Destruction Again
by Mrs. Abject
Summary: Cort has once again grown up, and life in Legaia goes on. But is there a new threat? And what do you do when the only people who'd give you another chance are across bridges you've probably burned a long time ago? Chapter 10 is now up. Eventual Zora/Cort.
1. Another Day in Sol

**Destruction Again**

**1**. Another Day in Sol

Rating: T  
Warnings: Spoilerage, a tiny bit of bad language, teenage Cort angst, and pancakes. Postgame, and established Noa/Vahn. Liberties taken with the specifics of the ending, specifically about what happened with Cort.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Legaia, or have any rights to it.  
A/N: Although I've played the game multiple times, I currently don't have a working copy or access to a working copy. (That's how much I don't own Legaia.) I've tried to be fairly accurate, but if there's a glaring mistake, let me know and I'll fix it to the best of my ability.

* * *

When Cort woke up, he still heard the screams. They echoed in his ears, pure sounds of terror quickly fading into the noises of Seru. Every night, he dreamt of the day he unleashed the Mist upon an unsuspecting world; the day that he had destroyed Legaia itself. How could he have known that someone would have come along to pick up the pieces? After nights and nights of Seru and screaming, Cort wasn't horrified anymore once he woke. Uncomfortable? Most of the time. Upset? On occasion, when the dreams were particularly bad. But not horrified, no, he had learned to tune it all out, to concentrate on something else. 

Cort often wished he could tune the dreams out or at least make them a little fuzzier when he was still sleeping. The previous night's dreams had been particularly bad- Cort had seen the Seru take over Zora.

He looked at his reflection in the door mirror that had come with the small apartment. His shoulder-length, dark gray hair was rumpled, and he knew from prior experience that Noa would nag him about that until it was fixed. She'd say something about how he was a good kid and good kids needed to look their best every day!, or if Cort was _really_ lucky, maybe she would spout off some new expression that she just learned and couldn't wait to mangle. He ran his fingers through his hair until it was barely acceptable. Noa still wouldn't like it, but she couldn't say anything now. He smirked. Maybe (probably) he wouldn't do anything great today, but he wouldn't fuck up again.

The room's walls were bare. It had nothing to do with the fact that Vahn and Noa and Cort had just moved to Sol. Cort never decorated his room. There hadn't been a sense of ownership for Cort since... well, since the Mist, and anything he put up in his room could get smashed or ripped if he moved about while he dreamed, which sometimes he did. Cort still wore black for mourning, even years after he remembered that he had killed. That, and Cort didn't want to look like a good kid, because Cort knew he was not a good kid, no matter if Noa wanted him to fix his hair or not.

* * *

Noa was in the kitchen, cooking breakfast. She hummed a little song under her breath, as she glopped some kind of batter into a pan. 

"Morning, Cort!" she happily greeted him as he stumbled out of his room. He muttered something incoherent at her. She had obviously made an effort to look presentable, but she was still wearing her nightgown, and Cort noticed a blue hair hanging off her neck. Even after 15 years of marriage, Vahn and Noa were still very much in love.

"Do you want breakfast?" Noa asked. "I found out about the round little things called cakepans! Aren't they cute?" She moved over so her brother could see. Apart from getting the word 'pancakes' wrongs, she was doing quite a good job. Some of the pancakes were already getting golden and crispy, and there was a warm, breakfasty smell throughout the kitchen.

"The word is pancakes, and you're doing it wrong," said Cort. He gave the pancakes the coldest stare he was capable of.

"Oh," said Noa sadly. "Well, do you still want any?"

"No," replied Cort, " but _Vahn_ will just love them. Provided that he doesn't choke, of course." He managed to put extra scorn on the name 'Vahn'. Although he knew that messing with Noa was pretty cruel and didn't accomplish much, there wasn't much else to do in a new town.

"Cort..." Noa started to say, but she stopped when she heard the bedroom door opening behind her.

"Good morning," Vahn said to Noa and Cort, as he stepped into the kitchen. He strode over to his wife, picked her up (at which she happily squealed), and kissed her enthusiastically.

When they finally broke apart, Cort was gone.

* * *

Although he'd only lived in Sol for a few days now, Cort knew the city quite well. He knew the abandoned stores he could sneak into (he loved to do nothing but spend hours alone in thought, and even if he didn't really love it, it killed time); the old, empty restaurants where he could get a bite to eat and pretend he was with friends he had long since betrayed; the breathtaking view from the top of the tower. 

He'd gotten used to moving so frequently that he was always able to quickly adjust (even to the hated Sol). Noa and Vahn worried that people would learn who Cort was, so they never stayed in one town long enough for anyone to find out. Cort still remembered when he was only five, and they had been living in Rim Elm. He remembered a man screaming that he was a monster. Back then, he thought it was because of his unusual eyes, and that the man was just a jerk. He didn't understand why Noa had started to cry. He didn't even know what the dreams meant, then. But they moved the next day. Vahn had told him to always use a pseudonym, but Cort rarely did. He liked the effect that his name had on people.

Cort strolled down the steps, until a group of teenage girls blocked his way. They stood, chattering and giggling, in a tight cluster in front of the old weapon store. No one should have been there; a newer weapon store had opened two floors down, and Cort knew people always gravitated away from anything old. The girls openly stared at Cort as they passed around a cigarette. Well, Cort would not be going any farther down today. He would go to the roof.

Briefly, he considered what it would be like to have friends again. But he didn't want new friends. He wanted his old friends back. Only they could understand his strange combination of remorse for what he had done to the world, and anger about it being stopped. Zora would probably have understood the best. But he quickly dismissed the thought. His friends were dead and gone; in fact, they'd been dead before this version of Cort even existed. And out of everyone, he had hurt Zora the most. Even if she wasn't dead, why would she ever forgive him?

* * *

From the top of the tower, he looked down on the Sol area. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, but Cort was thinking more about the tower town itself. Not many people lived there anymore. Sol had become a tourist town, and the few locals he had met had resigned themselves to poverty. Sol was dying, and Cort was happy about it. Even though he had spent sixteen years in this new body- sixteen years of having Noa shove lectures on fresh starts and tolerance down his throat- he still carried a prejudice against Solians. It reminded him of his old war. 

Nowadays, his only war was against his perky sister and her husband. He would have liked a war against that stupid monk, too (Gala was the only one who always knew where Noa and Vahn lived. Letters from him were constantly arriving). He guessed that the lovebirds were still eating Noa's pancakes, and he laughed.

He stopped laughing when he remembered the first time he tried to cook. He and Zora had snuck into the royal kitchens to get some dessert, and had argued about Cort's inability to do things without servants. He couldn't quite recall exactly what he'd tried to make, but he knew it turned out horribly. Zora had laughed at how it looked, but once she was finished laughing, she pretended to enjoy the burnt mess. He hadn't ever thought of her as something he could use, not back then.

* * *

A loud scream jolted him from the bittersweet memory. 

"Please, I don't know!" the same voice began to plead. "I wasn't there!" Something was happening on the floor below.

"This is your last chance, you ungrateful little bitch! How did he do it?" This voice seemed to come from a large male.

Cort thought he recognized something in the girl's voice. He moved a little closer down the stairs.

"You're going to... hurt people, aren't you?" she said, terrified. No response came from the man. "Then," the girl said, her voice a little stronger, "I wouldn't tell you even if I did remember!"

And Cort remembered where he had heard that voice. He'd heard it in his dreams and memories, and had thought of the speaker only moments before. But it couldn't be, it just wasn't possible. Nevertheless, Cort wouldn't run the risk of betraying her again. Running down the stairs, skipping steps and knocking into a tourist who was heading up to the roof, he saw a burly man in a stark white coat, holding a girl against the railing. One or two people walked by, looking away. Did they think this was some ordinary dispute, perhaps between a father and a daughter? Cort could see that with even a little push, the girl could fall to her death.

The man seemed quite willing to provide more than just a little push.

"Then, you're of no use to us," said the man to the girl. "If you don't remember, you aren't coming back. You'll..."

"Leave her alone!" Cort screamed. The man released her, and stared at Cort. The girl collapsed against the rail.

"Very interesting," said the man in the coat. "Why, I do believe... but it will require more investigation, of course..." And suddenly, he just disappeared. Cort now turned to the girl, thinking of how silly he would feel now that he risked his neck for a stranger.

But she wasn't a stranger. Her purple hair was now fashionably cropped, and she wore a short dress with leggings and boots. From a distance, she looked like any girl you'd see in Sol. But with that voice, and those eyes, she couldn't be anyone else.

"Zora..." said Cort, as he bent down and pulled her close to him. But something was wrong; she froze in his embrace, and asked,

"That's my name?"


	2. Is It You?

**Destruction Again**

**2**. Is It You?

Rating: T  
Warnings: Same as before, except I believe this chapter is pancake-free. Also, Zora.  
Disclaimer: Seeing as I was in elementary school when Legend of Legaia was first released, it's pretty safe to say that I don't in any way own it.  
A/N: I know Zora's not the most popular Legaia character, but including a "Zora" warning feels pretty silly.

* * *

"What?" yelled Cort. The loud noise made a couple of tourists stare. No matter. He _knew_ the girl was Zora. A lifetime ago, she was his closest friend. Maybe the hair was a little shorter, and the earrings were new, but he could certainly recognize someone who he'd seen everyday for years.  
Especially if last night, in his dream, he vividly saw her lose her humanity.

The girl tensed up. She'd seemed dazed before, but now she was coming to her senses, and she slid herself away from Cort.

"What the hell do you want from me?" she snapped. "Let me guess, you think I owe you something. Well, I- I-..." She trailed off when she saw his face, and turned decidedly pink in the cheeks before looking down, turning away from him. Cort realized that he might have yelled a bit too loudly. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he tilted his head so that he could sort of look at her eye to eye.

"Hey," he started, more collected now. "Sorry, alright?"

"So you scared him off," said the girl, still sharply. "Do you always have that effect on people?"

Cort gritted his teeth. Dammit, as far as he could remember, Zora was not usually this annoying. "But of course."

"I never would have guessed."

"Look," said Cort, "Maybe you can't quite grasp the obvious, but that man was _trying to kill you._ And you said yourself he wanted to hurt people. Whatever you think I'm trying to do, I wasn't the one who nearly pushed you off the railing." Wow, thought Cort, hearing himself. He was with the one person he wanted to see more than anyone else, and already he had that tone of voice he used with Noa and Vahn. Cort wondered if he'd forgotten how not to be a bastard.

"I know that," said the girl. She looked around, stood up, and headed down the tower stairs. "It was wonderful meeting you, but really, I need to go back..." Then she stopped. She turned back to Cort, and sat down again, folding her hands in her lap. "Never mind," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry. Thank you."

"So, you don't need to go home, after all?" asked Cort.

"I don't really have anywhere to go back to, now," the girl replied. "That man works at my home. This was my last chance, and if I failed, he wasn't supposed to take me back. Key and Ralido said so."

"Who are Ke--?" Cort started to ask.

"It's not important," the girl said quickly. "They're just... some people, and they said they're going to save Legaia, but... I don't know, the things that they want me to tell them seem a little strange. Oh, I shouldn't have said they wanted to hurt people. I can sound so childish, and look, it's finally gotten me into trouble."

"You didn't deserve to have him kill you just for saying something," Cort mumbled pathetically. He never was the best person at reassurance.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," she said. After a little while, she asked, "You said my name was Zora?"

"Don't you know your own name?" asked Cort.

"I always just thought I didn't have one," the girl said. "But, now I do?"

"Everyone has a name," said Cort. He was getting confused. He never thought of the possibility that if Zora came back, she would be called anything but "Zora". Yet, the only reason Cort was still "Cort" was that he'd been raised by Noa, who knew the boy's bizarre situation. If nobody knew who Zora had been, she could have been given a new name. More importantly, Cort realized, she'd have had a blank slate. A real second chance, with nobody calling her a monster or telling her, as a child, that she took part in killing all of those people. Maybe she'd have been told stories about Zora and Cort and what they'd done, and maybe she'd have grown up hating them. Apart from Noa and Vahn, most people avoided Cort, if not openly disliked him. If Zora had grown up as a normal person, would she really want anything to do with him either?

"That's what they told me," said the girl.

"Key and Ralido?" asked Cort.

"Uh huh. But people don't just _have_ names. Someone has to give you one, of course. But they never got around to naming me. I think that was Key's idea."

"Why not?"

"I can't tell you why not," the girl said. "You'd think I was insane. Hell, you probably already think I'm insane."

"Listen," said Cort. "Key or Ralido or whoever raised you, they're the ones that didn't even name their kid. If anyone's crazy here, I don't think it would be you." The girl laughed a little.

"Alright," she said. "I'll tell you, just remember that none of this was my idea: They said that I'd know my own name, if I waited long enough."

"How would that work?" asked Cort, playing dumb. He already knew quite well how that worked.

"But I don't know it, that's the thing! I'm sixteen, and I don't even know what to call myself." She gazed at the floor, embarrassed. "I'm supposed to know all sorts of stuff, and I don't know a thing." She snapped her head upwards. "But I shouldn't even be telling you this! You're a stranger."

"My name's Cort," he said, reaching out his hand. "I'm sixteen, too." Well, now he would see how much Zora knew. If she seemed happy to see him, then maybe she remembered more than she thought. If she seemed disgusted at his name, she'd most likely been raised as somebody-other-than-Zora, even if her family was strange enough not to name her.

Or, maybe that would mean she _did_ remember everything. She had every right to hate Cort. Provided, of course, that the girl really was Zora, but Cort didn't doubt it for a second.

"I guess it's nice to meet you, Cort," said the girl.

There was no reaction at all. She'd probably never even heard the name "Cort" before. Even strange families that didn't name their kids would have taught them about recent history, and the Mist, and the Seru. Every family would. The story of the Ra-Seru heroes was written in books, played out by children, and even told on Sol's guided tours. There didn't seem to be any possible way for the girl not to have known it.

And that was about when Cort knew for a fact that, nameless and with no knowledge of the Mist, Zora hadn't been raised as a normal person at all.

* * *

There were a few more tourists on the roof later that day, but several of them broke off from the herd and went back down the stairs. Most people had better things to do than look at a view, no matter how nice the view was. Pots of flowers, and a few small trees had been set up around the area, perhaps to provide the tourists with a more park-like atmosphere.

"Zora, huh," said the girl, sitting on a rooftop bench. Cort had taken her upstairs so that they would have a place to sit and talk. Too many people were staring at them on the steps, and Cort didn't want that.

"I think so," said Cort, sitting next to her.

"What if it's not?" she asked. Cort did not want to talk about that. He wasn't even entertaining the notion that the girl could be anyone but Zora, and she seemed to be dwelling on that possibility.

"If it's not, then I don't know _what_ it is. Okay?" He'd shifted to the bastard tone somewhere along the way, and tried to think of something a little nicer to add on, but at the moment it wasn't coming to him.

"Oh," said the girl, a little sadly. "Cort? I'll bet that you're looking for someone, and you think it's me." Zora had always been quick to pick things up that nobody told her. Cort was silent. He didn't know what to say. "I hope it's me," the girl went on. "I don't know how that would work, but hey, they're always asking me to remember this or that, and who knows? I might remember you. But, Cort, I don't want to disappoint you if I don't."  
There was an uncomfortable quiet between the two for a couple seconds.

"Hey, do you want to have a name?" Cort asked the girl.

"Yeah," she said. "I do."

"I'll name you, then. Any suggestions?" This didn't feel right to him. He didn't want to call her something that wasn't really her name, and he especially didn't want her to think he was admitting that she wasn't Zora, and that he was wrong. But he liked having Zora around, and he thought he might like having this Zora around. And if he had to call her by a new name (at least until she remembered who she was) so that she'd stay around, then he'd do it.

"Hmm." She pretended to mull it over in her head for a few seconds, but by the way she was smiling, Cort could tell that she already had something in mind. He hoped it wasn't awful. "Call me... Zora."

"But..." Cort started, surprised.

"Name me after her," said the girl. "When I was little, I had a friend who was named after someone. Two people can share a name, right?" And in fact, there were quite a few little "Vahn"s, "Noa"s, and "Gala"s running about, named after the world's heroes.

"That's true," said Cort. "Are you sure, though?"

"Don't worry," she said.

"Okay, Zora," said Cort, smiling a bit now and ruffling her hair, "Let's go."

* * *

They spent the rest of the day in Sol, looking through the shops and restaurants and sights to see. At the old weapon store, Cort found an especially interesting dagger, which had an almost-black blade, and several jewels in the hilt. He bought it for himself. They stopped in a dimly-lit antique store with a deep red awning, where Zora saw a pendant she liked. She didn't have any money, so Cort bought it for her and fixed the clasp around her neck. Afterwards, they went to the tower's floor to see the Genesis Tree, and Cort felt the irony in this, but couldn't explain it to Zora. The Genesis Tree was marketed toward the tourists as a sort of wishing well, with baskets on the branches where people could (and were encouraged to) leave a coin.

"Should we?" Cort asked. He himself thought the whole thing was stupid, but this new Zora might like it. She was sheltered, so maybe for now she would be naive. He didn't really know what she would be like.

"No," said Zora, rather bluntly. "I don't think paying whoever owns the tree is going to grant anybody's wish."

"Except maybe the guy that gets to keep the money, huh?"

They laughed and they continued on. After his purchases, Cort didn't have enough money to pay for Zora's dinner, so several hours later they rode the Sol elevator back up to Cort's floor.

"So, this is where you live?" asked Zora.

"Wait here," said Cort, and he unlocked the door and went inside. He didn't feel like answering whatever questions Noa would ask about the girl, since Cort hadn't ever brought a friend home before.

"Cort! I'm so glad you're back home," said Noa hurriedly, before Cort was even fully through the door. "We're getting ready to go, and I didn't want to leave the apartment empty, in case you wondered where we were, or something, and it was almost too late to wait anymore, so I was going to have Vahn write a note, but now you're here, so I don't have to!" She wore a long pale green gown, which looked far too formal and stuffy when it was worn by someone so energetic. Cort could vaguely remember Noa telling him something about her and Vahn and a date.

"We'll see you later," said Vahn.

"Have a good time," Cort said, halfhazardly and with a sort of sarcastic voice. Still, that was much more than he usually did, and Noa seemed pleasantly surprised.

"Well... uh... thanks!" she said. "We'll see you when we get back!" Vahn held the door for Noa, and the two left the apartment, where Zora was leaning on the tower wall outside. Noa stopped. She looked at the girl, as if she'd seen her before, and just couldn't remember where. She seemed about to say something, but Vahn spoke up.

"Honey, we're going to be late!" said Vahn. "I think you scared her!" Noa called out an apology as she and Vahn went on their way.

"That's your sister, right?" asked Zora once the couple was gone. She seemed curious now, but Cort noticed that when Noa was staring at her, Zora had looked frightened. He nodded. "She has the same eyes as you. Well, one of yours, at least. Why didn't you want her to meet me? Am I embarrassing to be around?" Cort did not know what to say. She was trying to make a joke of it, but he could tell that she didn't think it was funny at all.

"You didn't do anything wrong," he said, not entirely telling the truth, "she's just a bitch."

"She didn't seem like a bitch to me," said Zora. "She didn't have to apologize to me. What's really going on?"

"Well, it's not really about you," said Cort. "I'm not embarrassed of you or anything, but, there's... something going on with me, and probably you, too, and I can't tell you about it now, because you wouldn't believe me."

"How do you know I wouldn't?" asked Zora defiantly. "Do you know something about me?" Well, now she was ready to listen to him, but how far would that go in telling her the truth? Cort knew this was the wrong time to explain everything.

"You wouldn't believe me right now. But I'll explain it to you sometime, okay?"

"Okay," Zora said. "I trust you."

"Why ever would you do that?" said Cort, grinning.

"No, really," she said. "I trust you, Cort. I know I shouldn't, but I just _do_."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Zora replied. "Tell you what, I'll explain it to you sometime," Zora replied. Maybe not the biting wit of years gone by, but it did seem like the old Zora was coming back. "So, this is where you live?"

"We just moved here, so there's not much."

"It's nice, though," she said. "Homey."

"My room's over there," said Cort, gesturing to the door. She opened it, and went in. "Really. Not much. The lovebirds did worse than usual with picking this one."

"Do you move a lot?" asked Zora.

"They do," said Cort. "If I had a choice in the matter, we wouldn't be at Sol."

"I have my own room, too," said Zora after a couple seconds of silence. "Well, I did. There wasn't much there, either." She yawned. "Cort, I know it's early, but I'm really tired."

"No problem," said Cort. "I guess almost getting killed probably takes it out of you."

"Could I… could I possibly stay here? I know it's a lot to ask, but I can stay on the couch, or floor, or something." Cort stopped to think. The couch wouldn't work. Noa would see her, and that was not going to happen. And after waking up on the floor occasionally after some of the worst dreams, he knew the floor wasn't exactly comfortable. "I'm sorry," said Zora. "You don't have to."

"It's okay," said Cort. "Just get in the bed." She thanked him, took off her boots, and climbed in.

"Zora, just where _are_ you from?" asked Cort.

"I'll tell you tomorrow," she murmured sleepily, and quickly drifted off to sleep.

Cort looked over at Zora, and saw one of her earrings faintly glow. Whatever she would tell him tomorrow would definitely be interesting.


	3. Royalty

**Destruction Again**

**3**. Royalty

Rating: T  
Warnings: As well as previous articles of warning, there's some mostly-but-not-really-one-sided implications of Zora/Cort here.  
Disclaimer: Stilldon'townit.  
A/N: This is where I'm most concerned about not being totally accurate. If you notice anything really blatantly uncanon in the pre-game stuff described, please let me know and I'll give you a pretend internet cookie. On another note, Zora's age was never really brought up in the game (I liked her from the start, so I was paying attention there.) I see her often described as a quite a bit older than Cort, and I get that people think that, because she already had a title when the Mist was created. However, titles can be inherited when people are very young, and it's possible for a child to get a title and have a regent wield their power for them, plus (to me) there's the sense that in the Legaiaverse, people were considered capable adults at an earlier age. Therefore, it's possible the two were about the same age, and that's the way that I've written them. I might go into this more later, but I just wanted to get it out now in case anyone's confused.

* * *

This was not a good situation. 

Cort lay flat on his side of the bed, staring up at the ceiling, or, rather, where he knew the ceiling was. Night had fallen and the room was completely dark. Zora's earring had stopped glowing (he would have to ask her about that), and he could hear her breathing softly. If she was dreaming, her dreams were peaceful.

Cort hadn't ever shared a bed in this life, and although he couldn't say so for certain, he didn't think that he had done so the first time around, either. His memories were a little fuzzy on that question, but sharing a bed was just something that a prince of Conkram would never have needed to do. There had been the opportunity, of course, mostly in the form of hints from his parents that if he ever wanted, they would arrange a marriage for him. He'd never taken them up on those offers. From what Cort had known of princesses, they were shallow and dull, mostly concerned with appearances, and completely unable to follow along in even a basic scientific discussion. Even if anything had occurred, which was a possibility that Cort seriously doubted, the strangeness of sharing a bed made him guess that afterward, he'd slept alone.

Zora was small, but she still made a dent in the mattress, if a tiny one. Perhaps Noa or Vahn would have been used to sleeping in a bed with breathing noises and the weight of another person on the other side of the mattress, but Cort was not. He thought, with a bit of a smirk, that it was different for Noa and Vahn, too. From the way that they acted around each other, it wasn't like any actual sleep happened among them. And oh dear God, did he just think about _that_ while a girl was lying next to him in his bed?

That was a much simpler problem. Zora was a girl. It wasn't as if Cort had ever been in love with her or anything—no, back in Conkram, she was just Zora, and in this life, she'd been stamped into his mind as the Long Lost Friend. Still, he considered Zora to be quite a pretty girl, even though he wouldn't consider himself an expert on the subject. And despite the fact that she didn't yet have her memories back, he felt as if it was almost like old times with her. She trusted him, even against her better judgment.

And now Cort was dead tired (how late was it now?), in a bed with breathing noises and human weight. And a girl, who he thought was pretty and who made decent conversation and who trusted him completely. There was absolutely nothing redeemable about this situation.

Well, almost nothing. Even with the missing memories, it was good to have Zora back. The timing was perfect. They had been closest when Cort was about this age, and Zora was perhaps a year or two older. King Nebular hadn't yet gotten his son involved in the war effort, and the experiments with Seru wouldn't start for some time (Had Jette been taken on as an advisor yet? Cort's memories were still a little fuzzy about the order of those events.) Well, the war was definitely over, and the Valley of Naoru would freeze over before anyone would hire Cort to work in research. So really, Cort reasoned, why couldn't he and Zora continue their friendship again from that point? He wouldn't have to drift from town to town, moving whenever Noa and Vahn felt it necessary and encountering only strangers. He could have a friend with him, someone to talk to and spend the day with, and maybe Zora would remember everything, too, and they could reminisce about how things used to be.

(Where were Noa and Vahn, anyway? He was grateful that they were gone long enough to sneak Zora into the apartment, but after their dates, they had always come back…)

Before he died, he never would have thought he'd care more about having a friend around than about his research, but princes never had to be alone when they wanted companionship. People wanted to be around princes, often for far-from-selfless reasons. But that didn't matter, because when Cort wanted people to be there, he'd never have to ask. He'd simply need to show a bit of interest, and they would arrive on their own. And when Cort wanted people to leave, there wasn't any risk in being blunt, because who would want to anger royalty? Once dismissed, his subjects would almost feel a sense of guilt, as if a prince was always right and moral and just, and if Cort wanted them there again, he could call them back right away. Instead of irritation, they'd feel undeservedly forgiven. And now, he'd gone to the opposite end of the spectrum, where people would stare rudely at him, or walk as far away from him as convenience permitted, and they would feel _good_ about doing so.

He'd had all the power. He'd been able to keep Zora around or push her away, and he had done each on more than one occasion. Before, it wouldn't have mattered if he'd been rude to her (although even before that, he wouldn't have done so). Now, he'd almost given her another name, and she had almost left him before she remembered there was nowhere else to go. Zora was dangerous without memories. Cort wasn't a prince with no one to remember it, and if Zora didn't remember him, she wouldn't care about him, and she would be the one with the ability to dismiss _him._

But was a Zora with her memories intact any better? She'd never been able to react to his betrayal, and Cort knew that even something "unconditional" still had its limitations. Even if she'd… cared about him (best not to dwell on that, Cort thought), even if she would grow to care about him again, she could still leave him if she knew what he'd done to her. Maybe, as dangerous as the situation was, Cort didn't want her to remember. They could rebuild their friendship. She trusted him. He would never have to tell.

No. Wasn't this the kind of thinking he'd wanted to get away from? Deciding what was dangerous about her, and keeping secrets, and analyzing the risk until it wasn't about a friendship but about how to get the best possible results for himself. He did not want to use her again, and he did not want to hurt her again. There had been a time when it didn't matter that Cort was royalty, and it didn't matter that Zora was not. And now that both of them weren't royalty (no, now that Cort had another chance to do it over again and not destroy the girl that cared about him), that was the best it could be. It wasn't so bad, now. Maybe Cort was sixteen and had a pretty, ever-trusting girl in his bed (which was not the least awkward of all possible situations), but she was Zora, and she looked peaceful as she slept.

Then, she screamed.

The people in the next apartment over had to have heard it, and Cort thanked Tieg that Noa and Vahn hadn't yet returned home. She shook and kicked her legs a little, but she didn't wake up, and soon she looked calm again.

It took a little longer for Cort, jolted wide awake, to get to sleep.

* * *

He dreamed something he hadn't before. It was several days before Conkram's royals had thrown a ball. In days, Cort would learn the ball was a desperate attempt to gain support in the war from anyone who might be sympathetic to the cause. But at the time, he didn't think much of the influential people gathered together, or the hushed discussions. And the speeches on the war were simply just harping on something unpleasant, as older people were likely to do. The sun was shining through the windows of Cort's room, and he'd been sitting with Zora, talking about the event to come. 

"I'm not showing up," he said. "I don't need to be there if everybody's going to stand around and brag and blather about who's important."

"You have to," she said. "People are going to make a big deal about it if you aren't there."

"You could tell them I've fallen ill," he suggested.

"Everyone knows you haven't. They'd think you were a liar."

"I don't even _do_ anything with official kingdom affairs. I'll have nothing to say, and my father's going to parade me around and introduce me to people who probably expect that I'll know everything about the war, and the kingdom and all of that." Cort was right. He didn't do much with the kingdom so far, except being someone who would someday take on the crown.

"You can show up, stay a little while, and then leave," she said.

"He's been hinting that he wants me to get married," Cort pointed out. This was his last resort. Zora didn't seem to want Cort to marry some princess any more than he himself did, and maybe it would convince her to help him skip the ball.

"Why not take me along with you, Cort?" she asked. "He could hardly try to arrange a match that way." Cort agreed. There might not have been an opportunity to steer clear of attending, anyway, and at least he was—

* * *

And he woke up again. How early was it? He couldn't have slept for more than an hour. Cort could barely open his eyes, so he shut them and tried to go back to sleep- although he'd known that the ball occurred, and that it had been a happy time, he'd never remembered it as it happened, and maybe if he fell asleep again quickly, he could finally see it. 

He felt a slight wobble.

The sound of light footsteps. Were they in his room, or somewhere else in the apartment?

A door opening.

Noa and Vahn were back, or… something. He just wanted to remember the ball. He'd need to have the happy memories if she would have the happy memories, and besides, he was so exhausted anyway, so he ignored the distractions (as if he could have done anything else!) and was back to sleep in no time.

Instead of the ball, he dreamed of the Mist again. Perhaps he'd cried out, but it didn't matter, because when he woke up in the morning, he was alone. He looked around. The sheets were a bit tangled on the other side of the bed, but that occasionally happened when Cort dreamed. Climbing out of the bed, he got up and looked around. He clearly remembered Zora taking off her boots, but the boots were nowhere to be seen. He couldn't have dreamt it all… could he?

And something was odd about the house. Usually he'd have heard Vahn or Noa walking around or talking to each other, but there wasn't any noise at all. Well, first things first. He got up, bathed, and changed his clothes. Perhaps Noa and Vahn had stayed at the inn during the night? But there was still no sign of them once he was dressed and dried. Their door was open, too, and he checked inside. They weren't still in bed; in fact, the bed was still made. One of the drawers was left open, and on the floor, folded into a stack, were a short dress and a pair of leggings. Well, that settled the question. Yesterday had been real. Cort hadn't really believed it was a dream, since he'd never dreamed of anything that hadn't previously occurred.

Knowing what he knew now, Cort couldn't help but wonder if Zora really would have been able to help Cort skip the ball, or if she'd just wanted him to take her. She could trick people like that, if she wanted to—but he didn't think she'd ever have done that to him. But of course she didn't _really_ love him, not as anything other than a friend. It was misplaced emotions, or reading too much into the way things were between them, or something else, because if she'd loved him then, she could still love him now, and… if she'd really been here at Cort's house, in his room, where was she now? He noticed a note fallen to the side of his bed. He must have knocked it over when he'd gotten up.

"_Thank you for letting me stay the night,_" the note read. "_I need to take care of something. I'll be back as soon as I can. –Zora._" Cort had no idea what she'd need to take care of, or why it was so urgent that she'd needed to do it first thing in the morning and wearing Noa's old clothes. He put down the note and left the apartment, locking it behind him.

* * *

It felt strange for her to be walking among a crowd. She'd been raised with her own room and empty corridors, not with crowds of people all about. But still, she knew what a crowded room felt like. She'd felt herself in places with people all about her, not feeling strange or awkward at all. Maybe what felt strange to her was more the fact that she knew she'd never been around so many others, and it still seemed perfectly normal. 

It was more than that. Key and Ralido were scientists, and had kept their experiments under very closely monitored conditions. She'd read enough books where maybe she'd have heard of the concept, but there had never been money around. And when Cort had paid for his dagger and her necklace, nothing had seemed new, or even interesting. But she'd known money like that. It felt… foreign, and so did the rest of Sol. But she'd heard of Sol before, hadn't she?

She had been surprised when Dirn, the man who'd almost killed her, had taken her to Sol, of all places. Had she somehow sensed that he would lose his patience with her, or had she felt as if she was behind enemy lines? She hadn't known Sol was a real place, but in order to dream about it, she must have heard the name somewhere. She'd rationalized everything that she'd known from her dreams; after all, Key had explained to her just how a dream worked. She'd known her dreams were different than Key's, or Dirn's, or anyone else's, and although the mystery behind them was what made her life interesting, she didn't want to tell the scientists about them.

When she dreamed, she was a girl named Zora. She didn't dream very often, and the dreams would never be in order—sometimes she'd be older, sometimes she'd be younger—but when she looked at it together as a single story, it fit together perfectly. Many of her dreams were about Zora's childhood, but most of them took place at Conkram's palace. She loved the feeling she had in her dreams that she was _somebody_, and she'd had a friend, too: he was Conkram's prince. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember his name, but she remembered _him._ Nobody she had ever seen had eyes like he did. As far as she could tell, Zora had been in love with him, and if the girl had believed he was real, she probably would have felt the same way. Was Conkram a real place? It wasn't mentioned in any of the books she read. Maybe there had been Sol, but she'd checked over and over again to find any mention of Conkram, and it just wasn't there. She'd come to think of her dreams as a fictional story. Maybe it was a strange coincidence that her dreams made actual sense, but they were only dreams.

She'd entertained the thought that the dreams were what she was supposed to remember, but she wasn't sure of it, and producing accurate memories was more important than whether she remembered anything at all. Her friend had been able to remember easily, when she was still little. But once she did, Ralido had moved her away to another room, and the girl who dreamed she was Zora was by herself. It wasn't so bad. She'd had books, and the company of the scientists. Ralido had told her that if her friend had stayed, there was a chance of false memories circulating, and they couldn't have that for any reason. She remembered that her friend had kicked and screamed when the two had found out they were to be separated.

And just yesterday, she had met Cort. He looked exactly like the prince, and acted like him, too. Maybe Cort was slightly bitter, but his voice, his mannerisms—they were all the same. She'd been able to hide her shock when he'd called her "Zora", but she had wanted to tell him what she knew. She'd wanted to tell him everything. She couldn't, of course. She didn't know him. But it seemed like he wanted to be her friend, and she'd thought that maybe if one day they knew each other a little better, she could tell him everything. It was easier to be Zora than she thought. She didn't even need to try, and although the name still made her jump a little inside, it felt perfectly natural.

Then she'd gone to sleep. It wasn't a good dream by any means. It was full of Seru and Mist and screaming and death, and she thought maybe she'd this was the story's end. But she finally heard the prince's name: Cort, just like her friend's. Had she given the prince Cort's name, because they were so much alike, or were they really the same person? Once she woke up, she decided she needed to know, so she borrowed one of Noa's old dresses and snuck out of the apartment.

A middle-aged man was walking up the steps when the girl stepped out.

"Sir?" she'd called. He stopped and looked over at her. "Was Conkram really a real place?"

"Are you crazy?" he replied, looking angry and almost horrified. "You can't deny what happened to us!" He hurried on his way, leaving the girl still wondering. The direct approach was certainly not going to work. Thinking of which questions she should ask, the girl went on her way until she saw an elderly woman sitting on a bench.

"May I ask you something?" she said to the woman. "My sister wants to know about Conkram. What should I say first?" Hopefully, she wouldn't make the woman angry, too.

"I'd start by telling her where it was, maybe," said the lady on the bench. "I'm guessing she already knows about the Mist, of course?"

"Yes, yes," said the girl, not entirely sure about the Mist herself, but not wanting to raise the woman's suspicions before asking another question. Conkram was real, but apparently it wasn't around anymore. "Should I tell her it was where Cort lived?"

"Well, if she already knows who he is…" replied the woman.

"And," said the girl, a little worried about what the old woman would say, "Should I tell her it was where Zora lived, too?"

"If she already knows about Zora, I'm surprised she doesn't know much about Conkram," said the woman, a little disapprovingly. "Go ahead."

Conkram was real. Zora was real. And since she knew things only Zora could know… it almost sounded too ridiculous for her to even admit it. Feeling stunned (although didn't she suspect this to begin with?), she thanked the old woman and went back to Cort's apartment.

* * *

Cort saw Zora walking down the steps with a nervous look on her face. She looked more like herself in Noa's dress. Maybe it wasn't quite her fit, but the color suited her better. He noticed that she wouldn't quite look him in the eye. 

"Cort?" she asked quietly when she'd gotten close to him. "You're the same as… as the other Cort, aren't you?" He looked at her in shock. Hadn't she known nothing at all about the "other Cort"? After a couple seconds, he nodded. "It's me," she said. "I don't know much yet, but it's me." He didn't understand the sudden change, but he put his arm around her anyway, hugging her like someone who'd come back from a trip to some distant place. And she must have seen how confused he was, because then she really did tell him everything, or mostly everything. She didn't mention that she'd "cared about him".


	4. Settling In

**Destruction Again**

**4**. Settling In

Rating: T  
Warnings: Some still very, very slight Zora/Cort, mostly one-sided. References to things that one can reference. A tacky nightlife establishment.  
Disclaimer: If I owned Legaia, I'd probably be more proactive about updating.  
A/N: I'm all settled into college now, so hopefully the updates will come more frequently. I've got a definite idea of where I want this to go, and even if it does end up going somewhere else, it's still much more enjoyable to write than a philosophy essay.

* * *

They lived together like that for several days in Noa and Vahn's apartment. It had been a little small for a family of three (although Cort couldn't remember ever having thought of himself and the lovebirds as a family), but it would have been a nice fit for Zora and Cort— if they didn't both have memories of living in a grand palace, with rooms and rooms all to themselves. Even as they were, they didn't mind the living arrangements much at all. Neither had exactly been used to palaces and luxury this time around, and at least now, they had each other's companionship. 

Noa and Vahn still hadn't returned, and as much as Cort just _knew_ that he couldn't stand them, he had to wonder where they were. He didn't really enjoy talking to them. They were too optimistic, and they could never seem to leave well enough alone, and they were much more affectionate around each other than was really needed (it wasn't possible to still be in love after that long, was it?). But they would never, ever have abandoned Cort. Noa had always wanted the best for him above anything else, and Vahn… well, when Vahn had found them and brought them back to Rim Elm, it was because he'd had feelings for Noa. But even at Cort's most cynical, he couldn't deny that Vahn had grown to think of him like a son.

Noa and Vahn were completely devoted to raising Cort, and that was mostly why Cort didn't feel much guilt about taking the money they'd hidden away in the cabinet. After all, they'd have wanted him to be able to take care of himself, right? Cort would never admit out loud that Noa and Vahn were smart, but he knew they were. They'd taken care to hide the money in several different places around the house. The cabinet had been obvious—probably chosen so Cort would be able to find it if he ever needed to—but he'd known they had much more gold than what was there. Zora had offered to help him search the house, but there wasn't really the need. And if Noa and Vahn came back soon and saw him rooting through the hidden money, it would be even more difficult to explain than why Zora was in their home.

Especially since Cort would have to explain Zora to them at the same time.

They'd bought some food, as well as whatever Zora couldn't borrow from Noa. Although a lifetime had gone by, Cort still had no idea how to cook, and since Zora didn't have much recent practice, she was only a little better. They ended up trying to find things that were already edible and didn't require any cooking. Cort had moved out of his room, onto the couch, although Zora hadn't minded sharing a bed at all. It was just too strange, too awkward for him, and the more he thought about sharing a bed with her, the less she seemed like "Zora" and the more she seemed like a pretty girl. The couch was lumpy and old, but Cort still slept more easily on it.

Both remembered the war against Sol, so neither really wanted to go out and experience the town. Cort knew that people would stare at him, like always (after all, maybe everything felt a little different, but nothing besides Zora's arrival had really happened). After what he'd heard from Zora about the Solians she'd met, he guessed she probably wouldn't have wanted to mingle with them, either. After the first day or two, they mostly stayed in the apartment.

* * *

Every night, Zora dreamt and remembered new things. She'd once left the door to Cort's room open. He woke up in the middle of the night, and saw a faint glow spilling out into the living room from where Zora slept. It was that earring again, glowing even brighter this time, and it gave Cort an uneasy feeling. He was tempted to take it out and throw it away, but what if he'd woken her up? What would she think?

And really, he didn't want to wake her up from what was undoubtedly a pleasant dream. She looked so happy.

So ignoring the glow, and the feeling that the earring shouldn't, for some reason, be in the apartment, Cort settled himself back onto the orange, lumpy couch and wrapped the blanket around him again.

In the mornings, Zora would be perched on the living room chair, perhaps reading one of Vahn's books (and there was that gnawing feeling again. It just wasn't _right _that Noa and Vahn were gone, and Cort didn't know where they were.) Usually she woke up before Cort, and she'd wait for him to wake, too, so she could tell him what she remembered. Fortunately, she hadn't remembered when she'd died. She told him what she'd seen in vivid details, only cutting off once, when she sensed she'd told him too much—but he wasn't sure what exactly she was talking about to begin with. It couldn't have mattered too much. They'd talk about the other memories, and tell each other things they both knew, but hadn't yet shared.

One night, Zora dreamt as if through a fog, where, yes, she still was Zora, but the world felt different and smelled different and even tasted different, and it was as if she wore a giant Seru that covered her entire body, and did things that she couldn't possibly see herself doing. No, she could picture it perfectly, and that was part of the horror in it. Cort didn't have much to say when she brought it up, except yes, this was a real memory, too.

* * *

Cort was dreaming as well. Most of it wasn't anything particularly new, or anything that he especially wanted to relive. But once again, he'd almost remembered that ball. He'd arrived at Zora's quarters, and watched her come out in a ball gown that seemed to float as she walked, and her bodyguard showed her out the door. The Delilases wouldn't be hired until this man was killed. Cort couldn't remember his name. It wasn't as if the memory cut off, but it was just something Cort hadn't bothered to pick up.

He took her arm and led her to the ballroom, not because he'd thought she was a better substitute for those princesses his parents wanted to introduce him to, but because it was a formal ball, of course. In retrospect, though, Cort had a pretty good guess that this was around when he realized the first time around that yes, Zora was quite a pretty girl. The tall, wide double doors were propped open, and he led her through them, and just when he made to look around the room and see what it all used to be, he heard a loud, jolting noise, and he woke up. The sound definitely came from the present- the neighbors in the apartment one door over had gotten into a screaming match. He could make out their words through the wall.

"You lied to me!" This voice was female, the girlfriend of the man who lived next door. Cort had seen her once when moving in. She didn't glare at him, but she did avert her eyes.

"Yeah, I did, and you know why?" the man yelled back. "You—"

The woman cut him off with something about fidelity. Cort couldn't understand everything the two were saying, but it was easy to get a basic understanding of the argument. Apparently, the man had lied to the woman, and led her on, and used her.

It sounded familiar.

The neighbor's girlfriend was sick of it. She'd leave him, she said. It sounded as if she was packing up a bag, and he was trying and yelling and begging her not to. Cort felt a bit sick to the stomach. The neighbors' door slammed.

Zora had slept through all of it.

* * *

It was the end of the working week, and loner though he'd become, Cort knew people well enough to know that at the end of the working week, they would often go have a night of fun. It wasn't as if social customs really applied to him anymore (after all, he was everyone's villain), but Key and the other scientists might have told Zora stories about people going out for dinner, or to dance, or even just to walk around the town. They'd shown how to dress like a normal girl, and although she hadn't known about money, perhaps she knew about people. Cort didn't want to be a disappointment.

Okay, probably she didn't know about people, either. She probably wouldn't miss anything, probably wouldn't know that people even liked to get out on certain days. Staying at the apartment would make her just as happy as going out on the town. But for the first time in very, very long, Cort wanted to get out of the apartment and take his friend with him. Spend some time with another human being. He'd gotten used to being an outsider, and this was new.

It wasn't as if he was turning into a good kid, or a social butterfly. And he certainly wouldn't stroll off and flirt with those girls passing the cigarette, or dance the night away at the Disco Club, but being with a friend… well, that was nice, too.

"We won't have to cook," he told her, and of course neither of them wanted Zora's cooking anymore, but it wasn't really about that. They'd been sitting around the apartment all week and although they enjoyed each other's company, they both were getting a little stir crazy.

"Okay," she agreed. "But where?"

The Jazz Club was the least obnoxious place in Sol, according to Cort. It looked much like it did sixteen years ago, although now it was a bit dimmer and there were more customers inside. Even though people still associated the restaurant with the Ra-Seru heroes and their friends, it had somehow avoided becoming a tourist trap. One could barely hear the loud music from the Disco Club a few floors away, which didn't play anything that sounded like disco anymore, but had kept the name out of nostalgia. Cort didn't know this, but over the years the music had only gotten louder and worse, and the lights had gotten brighter and flashier. A wooden sign at the door had a large, cartoony picture of Noa, complete with a crown for her brief reign as Disco Queen.

Cort chose the Jazz Club because it had the benefits of not being obnoxious, and of being farther away from the now disco-less Disco Club than some of the other places he would have considered.

He and Zora hadn't dressed up, not really. It would be silly to dress up just for this. But Cort did pick out some of the better-looking clothes in his pile of mourning black, and Zora put on some makeup and wore her pendant. And they left, locking the door behind them. Compared to some of the people walking around outside the apartment, they weren't dressed up at all. There were girls with their hair in preposterous shapes, and with them were boys in the new styles of suits. Even Noa and Vahn, still annoyingly, impossibly caring after 16 years, even they dressed up than Cort and Zora did when they went out. Noa and Vahn were having a special night with each other, after all, while Zora and Cort were just sick of bad food and staying in the apartment.

They passed the Disco Club, music blaring away. Zora put her hands over her ears, and Cort grimaced at cartoon Noa and her tacky disco crown. Back in Conkram, history was something that happened hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Nowadays, history was his badly-painted sister. He wasn't any more fond of the people with their hairstyles and suits, the people on dates or having going to parties together. Even the way they linked arms or held hands was more of a show than a sign of genuine affection. Anyone could do that, and to mock them, Cort took Zora's arm and led her to the restaurant. He caught her off guard for a second, but then she joined him, laughing to the Jazz Club. Those people were silly. Even though it was nice to be around other people, Cort wouldn't be caught dead in a suit, leading some silly girl around. These Sol girls weren't any better than the princesses Cort had met.

And… oh, shit. No sooner than it happened, Cort suddenly became very, very aware that even though he was doing it to mock the daters, his arm was around Zora's. He didn't want to think about it, but he knew about Zora's feelings. He'd heard it a million times about Zora, and how she'd felt about him, and how she'd thought he felt about her. This could give her ideas, this could make her want more from him, this could even make her fall—but she never did, really. Those weren't really Zora's feelings. It was the Mist back then. It was the Seru. She didn't know what she was thinking. It wasn't really her who was thinking it in the first place, it was whatever had taken her place. He didn't have to worry. She cared about him, yes. And he cared about her, too, of course. But it was entirely possible to care about friends. After spending so much time without friends, it was perfectly acceptable to want them again. It was just that, and nothing more.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and pushed the matter from his mind.

* * *

Zora gasped a little bit when Cort took her arm, but then she came to her senses. This was a joke, of course. Wasn't she listening to him make fun of the Solians? She should have been paying more attention, and she was paying attention, of course. He'd had her undivided attention, pretty much. And she did agree with him about the daters. It was pathetic, almost, how they'd made such a show of their affection. A date would be much better on a casual evening, looking nice but not wearing a costume, and not having to make it so obvious. She was alright, though. She wasn't complaining. It would have been nice, if… if…

She had trouble thinking the words out. They'd just met each other again, and he'd been nice enough to let her stay with him. She'd nearly been killed. There were bigger things to worry about than wondering exactly how Cort felt about her, and really, this was not the time for whatever this was. But he caught her off guard, leading her along like the daters, and then of course he was just making fun of them. She was being silly. Yet still, he'd been the prince she'd fallen for so many years ago, and the same things that attracted her back then still attracted her now. It wasn't her fault how she felt. It was the Solians' fault for having their stupid little romance rituals in the first place.

Really, she was happy, though. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than she could remember, at least in this life. He pulled her along, laughing under his breath at the unattractive hair of the lady in front of them, and she followed with a witty little quip. She was glad she'd been Zora, but she thought to herself that even if she didn't have the memories, even if the past lives had never happened or if they'd happened to other people, she'd have tried her best to be Zora anyway.


	5. Disruptions

**Destruction Again**

**5**. Disruptions

Rating: T  
Warnings: Slight Zora/Cort, alcohol, and perceived bitchery.  
Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Legaia, or even an original way to say that I do not own Legend of Legaia.  
A/N: And here we have a new character! She was planned to arrive sooner, but it took a little longer than I expected to get here. I realized the last chapter dragged a little, and I'll try to avoid that in the future.

Also, I'm not begging or anything, but I would love to improve with this, and since the Legaia fandom is pretty tiny, every review is very, very appreciated, especially those with constructive criticism. hint hint.

* * *

"Those people over there," started Cort as he motioned to them. He didn't know what to say about those people over there, but man, _those people over there._

"Those people over there." Zora shook her head.

Cort laughed, and told her exactly what those people over there could go and do.

Things that started out as complaints turned into jokes, and it didn't really matter what anyone else in the club thought because they were out on the town and having a good time. Everything was pretty and sophisticated. They looked nice without looking ridiculous, unlike some of the other people around town. And they didn't have anything that they _needed_ to do, so everything was something that they _wanted_ to do, and even the tension that had been there a little while ago had melted away.

They weren't there to get drunk. Cort hadn't sat the two of them down at the bar for exactly that reason, and it just wasn't quiet enough, with all the people. They'd ordered themselves a drink each at their table, though. For some reason, it made Cort feel a little apprehensive. It wasn't because of anything she'd do or say. No, she seemed like the kind of friend it would be enjoyable to drink with, the kind of friend he could trust not to do anything that he wouldn't want her to do. But his drink had arrived, and nothing bad had happened, of course. In fact, it was rather nice, and gave a sort of warmth to the conversation. Still, Cort couldn't shake the feeling, like he was on the edge of a memory that wouldn't be pleasant at all.

Cort and Zora leaned close in, whispering just a little louder than they meant to about the other people in the room, the party of six, that strangely familiar-looking pink-haired girl sitting at the bar, as if she was waiting for somebody or looking for somebody or doing something other than going to a restaurant and enjoying herself. Zora's face was flushed, and she was smiling like he hadn't seen in such a long time. He was about to ask her if she recognized the girl at the bar from anywhere, when two things suddenly happened.

The first was that apparently the man sitting next to the pink-haired girl made an inappropriate comment. She picked up her drink and threw it in his face, which didn't exactly persuade him to apologize.

The second was that Cort noticed the girl was wearing the same strange earring as Zora's.

* * *

It didn't last very long. The now-drenched man swung a punch at the girl, who dodged out of the way so fast they almost couldn't follow her with their eyes. He was a big guy and she was a pretty small girl, and he looked a lot stronger than she did, but her size didn't matter when she could overwhelm someone like that. She took the offensive, and maybe it was that he'd had a few too many to drink, but she only needed to hit him four, maybe five times before he'd fallen over sideways, knocking over a barstool on his way down. It all happened almost too fast to see.

She turned around, and Cort got a good look at her. She wore a bit more makeup than she'd needed, and the way she was dressed… well, dressed like that, no wonder she'd gotten trouble at a bar. Her hair was up in two parts, but it looked more like something that would be worn back in Conkram than the hairstyles of the kids out on dates. He liked that.

He didn't like anything else about her.

"I think… I think I know her!" said Zora. "She's really familiar, I've seen her somewhere before, she—" Zora quickly stopped, seeing that the girl was coming her way.

"Zora?" she asked. "You've gotta know _that _by now, right? Do you remember me, too?" Zora looked at her, trying to remember, and then it hit her.

"You lived with me in the lab when I was little, didn't you?" Zora asked.

"Don't you remember my name?" asked the girl, frowning a little.

"They took you away right when you found out," said Zora, a little puzzled and embarrassed. "You never got to tell me."

"It's okay, I guess. You'll find out eventually." She looked Cort over. "I take it you've already remembered _his_ name, huh?"

"You know Cort?" asked Zora. "From where? Cort didn't tell me about you."

"I haven't seen him in, I don't know, fifteen, sixteen years, and I didn't know him very well, but yeah, I knew him, I guess," said the girl, who seemed quite glad to have spent the last sixteen years Cort-free.

"Does that mean you're from Conkram, too?" Zora asked, a little surprised. She thought it was only her and Cort who had been brought back, them against the world in a way. And it was nice to see her childhood friend again, and she was glad that her friend got a second chance to live instead of just dying, but the whole process seemed a bit less… personal now.

"You didn't know that? A lot of us came back." And the more Zora thought back, the more she remembered that yes, there was definitely a pink-haired girl back in Conkram with her. She couldn't remember why the girl was there yet, or how they gotten along, or even the girl's name, but the girl definitely had known her and had lived in Conkram. The few memories she had were mostly just of her and Cort. Other people hadn't been significant enough.

"Yes, you were there, I think I can remember it," said Zora. "But I still can't remember your name, and if you told me, at least I'd have something to call you."

Then Cort, who up until then hadn't said anything, spoke up.

"You're Lu Delilas, aren't you?"

* * *

Cort really hadn't ever needed to think much about Lu Delilas. She was Zora's bodyguard, not his, and by the time the Delilases came along, Cort wasn't really thinking too much about Zora, either, besides what she was useful for. But Lu and her brothers were around enough for Cort to recognize them, and plan what they were useful for, too. He'd gotten the feeling that they weren't particularly fond of him, which didn't matter in the slightest because what could they do about it?

And yes, this was Lu. But really, he'd rather it have just been he and Zora. Some of the people he'd known, such as Jette or Zeto, were at least more interesting, and he wouldn't have minded getting to talk to them again. But even so, it seemed like he'd been cheated out of something now that more people had returned than just he and Zora.

Lu scowled at him.

"You didn't have to tell her that," she said. "She got to remember _you_ on her own, why ruin it with everyone else?"

"It's okay," Zora cut in, "I'm glad I know, really…"

"But he didn't need to tell you. He could have been lying, it's not like—"

"My mistake," said Cort, quickly, cutting her off. "I wasn't aware it was so important…" _It's not like he's never lied to you before? It's not like he has a history of being honest? It's not like he's a good person? _Cort didn't know exactly what Lu was going to say, but he definitely knew what she meant.

"You're right, it was," said Lu, smirking. She turned to Zora. "You can come home now, it's okay."

"Home?" asked Zora.

"You know, back with Key, and Ralido?" Lu seemed a little annoyed, although she tried to hide it.

"Lu, didn't you hear what happened? They sent me here with Dirn, and…"

"But now you've started to remember!" said Lu. "Key apologizes for everything, and everybody wants you to come back. And now that you've started to remember, you can come live with us! You don't really want to stay around here anymore, do you?"

"Dirn tried to kill me," said Zora. "That's not something I can just forget about."

"Dirn's actions were his own. They never told him to do that," replied Lu. "And are you sure about that? Because if you can forget—"

"Lu!" snapped Cort, cutting her off again. "Zora doesn't want to go back with you where they're going to try to kill her again!"

"You didn't even ask her what she wanted! How would you know, anyway?"

"I know because she's happy here, with me!" Should he really have said that last part? He didn't want to give anyone wrong ideas, but then again she _was _happy around him. He was happy around her, too. But it didn't mean anything, of course.

"Zora is my friend, too, Cort, and as I recall, you haven't always—" And here Lu was about to come out and say it again. It was almost like a game: in order to win, he had to shut Lu up before Zora finds out anything she shouldn't know. Cort was getting rather sick of playing.

"You're missing the point!" he cut in. "If I hadn't shown up, she wouldn't even be here!"

"So, what, you think you're a hero now?" Lu yelled, almost snarling. "Cort, that's the stupidest—"

"Stop it!" cried Zora. Lu and Cort turned to look at her. "Everyone here is staring at us! Lu, I'm glad you're back with us, but I want to stay, at least for now. I trust Cort. He saved me." Zora reached out to put her hand on Lu's shoulder, but she backed away.

"You shouldn't." she said.

"Look, it's about time Zora and I went back to my apartment," cut in Cort. "Go back to your home, and tell them that Zora is staying here. Okay?"

"Cort," said Zora, "she can come with us if she wants to, right? I really want to talk to her about Conkram! At least walk back with us, Lu." And Cort begrudgingly agreed, paying for the drinks and leading Zora out of the restaurant.

* * *

It was sort of an awkward walk back, even though it wasn't very far. Cort and Lu walked on either side of Zora, and avoided talking to each other if they could help it. At one point, Cort interrupted Lu again, and another time, Lu asked Cort where the apartment was. Neither of them really wanted to communicate through Zora, so it was mostly silent, except when Zora would make an effort to talk to one of them—who would talk quite nicely to her, but ignore the other. By the time they'd reached the apartment, Zora had stopped trying and the three were walking in silence (apart from the Disco Club, where the noise still hadn't died down.)

Cort reached for the handle, and then drew back. When he'd left the apartment, it had been empty. He'd locked it. But… there were voices coming from behind the door. Someone had gotten in.

He pressed his ear to the door.

"…I'll always be grateful to you for what you did, but…" There was no question about it. Even though Cort couldn't hear everything that she said, he could tell that it was Noa speaking.

"They're my daughters… as a mother you should…" Cort didn't know this person. She sounded rather nice, a sort of businesslike woman.

"…but if she doesn't want…" This was Noa's voice again. The door muffled

"… not all there… can't be trusted to make her own decisions. She thinks… doesn't know who she is…" It was the woman again.

"Where do you think…" Apparently, Vahn was back safely, too.

"Her sister's in town, looking… pink hair… and _I _didn't pick out her clothes… good kid, though…"

"..let you know if we see her," came Vahn's voice through the door.

Cort turned away from the door. Vahn and Noa were back. Part of him was happy to hear this, but where had they been? He knew it wasn't possible for them to have just left him, and the stranger seemed to have done something to help Noa, or else Noa wouldn't have put on such a show of appreciation. So why hadn't they come home for a week? He looked over at Zora. Her eyes were wide, and her jaw was dropped in an expression of disbelief.

"That's Key," she said. "How did Key get into the apartment?"

"I don't know," replied Cort, "but she's looking for you, isn't she? You can't stay in the apartment anymore, or else Key's going to see you." Zora tensed up even more. Cort took a second to think, then added, "Don't worry, we'll think of something." She exhaled, relieved.

"You can always go back," offered Lu. "It's going to be so much better now that you've remembered."

"You're with Key," said Cort, glaring at Lu. "Get the fuck out of here. I couldn't hear everything they said, but we're not about to have you show Key where we've gone."

"I'm not going to do that," said Lu.

"She just said you're working with her!" he almost yelled. He realized that listening at a door required being quiet, but there was no way he'd let Lu and Key take Zora away from him after such a short time with her.

"I promise you, Zora," said Lu, "I won't tell Key where you are. Or Ralido. Or any of them." Cort could tell she didn't really mean it.

"It's okay, Lu," said Zora. "You don't have to leave." And of course, Cort knew that Lu didn't mean any of it at all, but Zora just had to believe her. Really, she trusted people too easily. A second later, he regretted the thought. He'd been one of those people himself. But Lu really was someone Zora couldn't trust, he just knew it.

"There's a hotel up a couple flights," said Lu. "I've got money, I can buy you a room for the night."

* * *

It wasn't a bad hotel. There weren't many frills, but it was clean and comfortable. Zora had hugged Cort goodnight, for just a little longer than necessary, and neither would have minded very much if Lu hadn't been standing right there. Zora mumbled an apology, and then Cort told her goodnight again and closed the door.

"Nothing's going to happen to her," said Lu, as if she was scolding a small child. "I was her bodyguard for years. She'll be okay for the night without her knight in shining armor there to protect her."

"Wait, what? I didn't…It's not like I was—" stuttered Cort, confused. Lu couldn't thought he'd felt _that way_ about Zora, could she? Now was not the time for this. "Lu, she wants to stay here. Why are you trying to get her to go back with the people who tried to kill her!"

"Because I want to get her away from the person who did kill her," said Lu. "I thought you'd have guessed that by now."

"I'm not—"

"Oh, spare me. She only wants to stay with you because she hasn't remembered what you did to her!"

"But—"

"But I can't convince her now, can I?" Lu asked, a little bitterly. "I've realized that. She'll believe whatever you tell her. You know how much she likes you, right?"

"I care about Zora, too, so you can just—" Cort blurted out, trying not to think of what Lu meant by "how much she likes you". They were just friends, nothing more, even with the way she could talk to him the way nobody else could, even with the way she looked when she blushed or when she laughed, and really, he would deal with this later, just… not now.

"She's just started getting her memories back, right?" Lu asked. "I don't know what finally started it, but she's going to remember everything eventually. I'm guessing you've got all of your memories already, or pretty close to it. Me too."

"And you think she'll go with you on your her own once she remembers what I did, right?"

"What can I say, Cort? You've never been the stupid type."

Cort couldn't decide what to say to this. It would be different this time, maybe she wouldn't remember dying, or maybe she'd forgive him, or… maybe she'd hate him once she remembered, maybe she'd never want to see him again. He muttered something rude at Lu, and then headed back home.

It was much better to be headed for home when Zora was there with him, before Lu showed up. How could she even know that Zora started to get her memories back? Damn it, he wished the bitch had just stayed dead.


	6. Mother of the Year

**Destruction Again**

**6.** Mother of the Year

Rating: T  
Warnings: Nothing that hasn't been warned about before, except for increasing levels of Cort/Zora, and some potential sappiness that I'm worried about.  
Disclaimer: I don't own it.  
A/N: And it looks like this thing is shaping up to be longer than I thought. It's got the same general plot as I'd pictured, just it takes more chapters to cram it all in. Thanks for the reviews on Chapter 5. I got quite a few of them! (well, for a Legaia fic. But still, thanks a lot.)

* * *

The walk home was irritating, to say the least. Cort couldn't get over how much he hated Lu, or how much he wished that Zora was there with him, and that irritating flutter of worry in his chest just wouldn't go away. He was worried Lu wouldn't keep her word, but he was even more worried over what Lu had said. He could almost see Zora hurt and crying and then suddenly gone from his life, before it even happened. And as much as he tried to tell himself that it wouldn't happen, that he was worried about nothing, he was starting to wonder if the things he dreaded were simply inevitable.

In a way, it was a relief when he reached his apartment. Even though Key worried him, too, at least seeing Noa and Vahn would give him something to do. He took out his key, and unlocked the door.

"Cort, is that you?" asked Noa.

"Yeah, it's me," he said, still sounding more worried than he would have liked. "I'm home." As soon as he was fully in the living room, Noa rushed forward to clamp him in a hug.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "I'm so sorry we left you here alone!" She seemed on the verge of tears. Cort couldn't stand this kind of emotional display, but Noa probably had been through a lot, so he reached up anyway and awkwardly patted her on the head.

"Were you able to take care of yourself?" asked Vahn. "You found the money in the cupboard, right?"

"I'm fine," said Cort. "Really."  
"Did you get enough to eat?" asked Noa. "I'm sorry we didn't have any food in the house! I should have wrapped up some pancakes for you, just in case!" She was almost shaking. Noa got this way sometimes. Every time she disappointed someone she cared about, she'd panic, thinking she (a girl raised in a cave, a girl who didn't meet another human until she was already a teenager, and now a woman who still didn't have her habits quite refined) just couldn't be good enough for the issue at hand, whatever it was. It was awkward, and beforehand, Cort would have taken the opportunity to say something to make her feel even more inadequate, but now, he almost felt sorry for her.

"It's no problem," said Cort, almost surprised he didn't say anything sarcastic to Noa, or to break free of the hug. "I was okay."

"So, this is him," came a voice from across the room, Key's voice that Cort had heard through the door. "Just as I pictured." If Key hadn't lied about Zora or tried to take her away, she would have been beautiful. Her straight, pale hair came to about the small of her back, and her eyes were a piercing blue. She wore thin, circular glasses and unlike Dirn, she didn't wear a lab coat. Instead, she was dressed in blues and greys, with fabrics and styles to the height of Sol fashion, if a little bit more conservatively. Somehow she still looked classy, and the overall effect made her look slightly younger than she was. In all the places he'd lived before Sol, Cort had seen many people trying their hardest to look younger, and where most of them miserably failed, Key actually succeeded. Cort tried to guess her age. Thirty? Thirty-five? She seemed about maybe Noa's age, no, perhaps a little older, by her voice and the lines just barely beginning to form around the corners of her eyes, but only if you looked closely.

"Cort," said Vahn, "This is Key."

"She saved our lives," added Noa.

"Noa and Vahn told me about the… interesting circumstances surrounding you, Cort," continued Key. Cort noticed that she barely changed her expression as she talked. Yes, she would have been pretty, but all Cort could think about was how everything about her seemed cold enough to freeze the room.

He shivered.

"Interesting circumstances?" asked Cort, pretending that he didn't know what that could possibly be. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't worry, Cort!" said Noa. "You can talk to Key!"

"I'd rather not," he replied, and Vahn started to say something, but Cort stormed away to his room.

* * *

He locked the door, and let himself fall onto the bed. He wondered for a second why the room looked so _empty_, because it was kind of depressing and he really didn't need that at a time like this… but he really didn't need to be worrying about the room at a time like this, either. He didn't want to worry. He just wanted the day to be over so it could be tomorrow, and he could go see Zora again. None of this should have been his problem. There shouldn't have been a Lu, or Key, or Dirn, the man in the labcoat, or any of them at all. He'd been happy. He didn't want that to go away.

But even though he wanted it to be tomorrow, it was still today, and even though he wanted to get away from Key, he could still hear the conversation taking place in the living room.

"I'm sorry," Noa said. "He's like this a lot. I mean, he still remembers everything… it's tough for him, you know?"

Of course. He was just the spoiled brat, and there wasn't any _reason_ for him not to want to talk to Key, it was all just teenage angst. And there was no way Cort hadn't given them any reason to believe him. He couldn't tell them why not to believe Key, no, that would be crazy, but he thought they'd have at least thought he might have been right. That was silly. He'd insulted them and ignored them and shut down their efforts to make a connection with him, and it wasn't as if he regretted it. He really had no desire to be a model son, or brother, or whatever he was, but there he was, the angry young man, and there was Key, the model citizen, the perfect mother.

He wanted Key out of the house, and soon. She had Noa and Vahn in the palm of her hand. Of course she did, she saved their lives. A likely story. He would have to find out what really happened. And yet, if he hadn't met Zora, if he hadn't spent the last week with her and watched her remember, he'd have believed Key himself.

Noa continued to talk. He listened as Noa poured her heart out to Key, telling her everything about Cort and his memories, and how he just didn't seem to care about anything, not even about her and Vahn. She said that she loved him, but worried if he'd ever be happy, or if he'd go through life lashing out at everyone he met. She said she was tired of moving all the time, tired of people threatening to hurt Cort because of what he'd done so long ago, but maybe if he tried to show them how much he changed, they would treat him differently—maybe not like a different person, but maybe enough so that she and Cort and Vahn could stay in one place.

"No," she said. "It's not his fault. I didn't mean it."

And Noa was tired, more tired than she was tired of anything else, of how he acted like he hated everyone. Somewhere between "It's like when he talks to me, he's trying to hurt me as much as he can," and "Cort doesn't have a single friend," Noa's voice broke, and Cort heard her crying. Every once in a while, he would hear Vahn say something comforting, or Key offer some sort of vague advice.

The whole thing was sickening, but, god, Noa was a wreck, and he didn't know it actually _mattered_ all this time how he talked to her. She seemed happy, most of the time. She had Vahn, at least, so she wasn't completely miserable. Other things made her sad, but not for long, and he thought this was the same. He thought she'd brushed it off all of this time, that she was as irrepressible as she seemed, that she would be hurt, but then be happy again. But she wasn't stupid.

Why did he act like this all the time, anyway? Sometimes Noa and Vahn genuinely made him want to snap at them, but most of the time, he took the offensive. Was it just something about them that he didn't like? Sometimes they were too happy, but that wasn't _too_ bad, was it? No, it wasn't that. It had to be something else. He'd hurt them because he could, because he didn't really think it mattered and didn't give it a second thought. They told him not to talk to them that way, but of course they just bounced back, like they always did. Like an emotional punching bag.

Apparently he was wrong.

"I'm going to go talk to him," Vahn said. He heard Vahn's footsteps approach, but he didn't want to talk about this. He sprawled himself out, with his eyes closed and one arm across the pillow. Vahn knocked on the door.

"Cort?" he called. He opened the door a little, just enough to see Cort looking like he was asleep. Noa craned her neck and looked inside, too.

"Don't wake him up," said Noa. "It's okay, really."

"I just…" Vahn said. But he turned off Cort's light and closed the door.

They went back to talking, but Cort didn't want to listen anymore. Since everyone already thought he was asleep, he decided that actually going to sleep wouldn't be a bad idea. And, he didn't forget, he'd see Zora in the morning, too…

* * *

Leading Zora as befitted a formal occasion, Cort took her into the ballroom.

"It's lovely," she said. Despite the fact that he didn't want to be there, Cort had to agree. Important people from all over had come to Conkram to meet with King Nebular, and he didn't really care about them one way or another, but everything was grand, noble-looking for them, in that wide, tall room, made fit for royalty from all over.

They'd brought their princesses, too. Was getting Cort a marriage on everyone else's mind as much as it was on the King's? Cort tried to avoid eye contact with them, and occasionally he saw Zora scowling at the princesses behind their backs. That considerably lightened his mood. Anyway, princesses weren't as wonderful as they thought they were. Even when they dressed up in their gowns and lace and ruffles, it was more to advertise themselves than anything else. Zora wasn't royalty, and he'd rather go to the ball with her any day. And he looked at her in her ballroom dress, in a room full of princesses from kingdoms all over.

He had to stop, because if he looked at her any longer, he'd stop seeing Zora, his friend, and start seeing Lady Zora, who looked very pretty today, who made this stupid ball almost okay. She caught his eye, and he looked away. And even though he didn't really know what to do, if anything, it was exciting in a way.

For as long as they could get away with it, they didn't dance. They found a wall to lean against, and took a glass of wine each from the table, and talked about nothing in particular. Then, an ambassador from somewhere Cort should have cared about came up to them and started to ask questions that neither really knew how to answer. They excused themselves to dance. Cort hadn't paid much attention when they'd taught him how to dance, but Zora knew what to do, and they'd twirled across the floor together, not doing the fancy tricks that some of the princesses did, but not embarrassing themselves, either. He didn't want to admit it, but Cort was almost happy that he was there, especially that he was there with…

* * *

And he woke up. Before he could get annoyed that he'd only remembered another snippet of the ball, or confused—things seemed nice, so what went wrong?—the door opened and the light came on.

"Wake up, Cort," said Key, quietly.

"What are you—" started Cort, shocked and angry that Key was in his room.

"Shhhh, now," said Key. "Noa and Vahn are asleep. Come into the living room and talk with me."

"I don't want to talk with you," said Cort angrily.

"But don't they want you to trust me?" Key replied. "Anything more will break poor Noa's heart. Of course, I'd assume that's not much in the way of motivation for you. How's this: maybe Noa is scatterbrained enough not to notice somebody's been staying in her room, but if _somebody _gives her enough hints, she's sure to put two and two together. There's been a girl staying with you, Cort, and I'm pretty sure I know who she is." Cort didn't seem to have a choice. He hoisted himself out of bed, and left the room as quietly as he could.

In the living room, he sat himself down on the couch, while Key took the chair, in her utterly professional, hands-folded way. Just this morning, Zora had sat in that chair. Key was definitely not an improvement. She went on.

"She's mentally unstable, Cort. You've met her. She says she's Zora, doesn't she? Cort, you know just as well as anyone that Zora is _dead._ Your friend is not Zora, it's simply impossible, and I'm sure you can understand why she needs to come home with me, right away." And Cort got that feeling again that if he didn't know better, he'd be fetching Zora to take her home with Key, no, not Zora, that poor, crazy girl who just needed to go home with her mother and sister.

"Nobody else but you came back, Cort," Key continued. "People would have noticed."

But he _did _know better.

"If she's not Zora, then what's her name?" Cort asked, almost in a taunting manner. In the crack of light coming from Cort's room, he could see Key's lips move, as if she was trying to come up with something to say, but she took too long. A couple seconds was all that Cort needed. "If you were really her mother, you wouldn't have hesitated." And what about Lu? What about how Dirn tried to kill Zora because she wouldn't 'remember'? What the hell would Zora need to remember if she wasn't Zora? But it was already enough, and he didn't want to give Key any more information on him than Noa did already.

"Listen!" growled Key. "I can tell them she was here whenever I want to!"

"Why haven't you, then?"

Key stopped. Her expression shifted again, this time from angry to kind. "Cort, aren't you miserable?" He looked away, and didn't reply. Of course he was miserable sometimes, but it was none of Key's business how he felt.

Then she asked, "Wasn't it better back when we had the Mist?" He froze.

Key couldn't be attempting what it sounded like she was attempting. There was no way. The Seru were gone, and it just wasn't possible.

Was it?

"Cort, I think you should come and work for us," she finished, leaning forward and petting Cort's hair, almost like a child's. "Whatever you're feeling, it's just temporary. People always think they change, but really, you're still the same person you've always been." A chill ran up his spine, and, having had enough of Key, he lifted his arm to brush Key's hand away, and suddenly, he felt a shock of pain on the side of his head. Instead of letting go, Key had grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled, in the way she'd undoubtedly calculated to cause him the most pain possible. Once she let go, she smiled sweetly yet again.

"Don't touch me," he muttered, going back into his room, and this time, locking the door. But before he turned the latch, he heard her voice again.

"Keep my offer in mind, Cort." And as much as he tried to get back to sleep, the pain in his head and the worries kept him lying there, awake. Maybe it was for the best; he really didn't need to dream of Mist again, anyway.

* * *

"I forgot to tell you, Cort," Noa said, the next morning. "Key's going to stay on our couch until she finds a better place to stay to look for her daughter. That's okay, right?" Noa sat at the kitchen table, which was strange, because usually she could be found by the stove, making breakfast. Today Key stood there, stirring a batter of some sort. The ingredients and measuring cups were meticulously arranged, and Noa had a look on her face as if she was lost, with Key, instead of her, making breakfast, doing Noa's job. But then again, it could have been Cort's imagination. He really wasn't okay with Key staying on the couch, but Key telling Noa everything would have been worse, so he nodded unenthusiastically.

"It's good to see you again, Cort," said Key. "Did you sleep well?" Cort looked over at the stove. Even though he said Key could stay, he didn't have to be _perfect_, now, did he?

"You don't cook as well as Noa does," he told her, and left to go see Zora.


	7. Danger

**Destruction Again**

**7**. Danger

Rating: T  
Warnings: The usual slight Zora/Cort, violence, language, actual stuff happening in this story for once.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Legaia, or even any honey cake.  
A/N: This update would have happened much sooner if not for fucking finals. This has turned into the longest thing I've ever written, ever. I don't know if that's good, or bad. Does anyone beta read? I'd love to have a beta reader for this.

Also, I believe I was writing a review reply to Crystal Inferno, and I accidentally clicked to send it before it was ready. Sorry if the reply sounded stupid/weird in its incompleteness.

* * *

The images of her dream faded away, gradually at first. And then, right away she was in Sol again, nestled in the sheets, eyes closed, and a little bit drowsy. She thought of Cort, and wondered what they were going to do today. So many memories had come back during the night: Lu and her brothers Gi and Che, the sort of way Zora was around the Delilases that was a mix of business and friendship, and, of course, Cort. She'd dreamed of the ball, and it wasn't the first time, but she blushed in her sleep nevertheless. And at one point it had become disturbing again, colder and like being someone else, with the Delilases as nothing more than her subordinates, and Cort talking to her as if he really wasn't Cort and she really wasn't Zora, not at all. And oh, _that_ was the "Mist" that she'd heard mentioned several nights ago.

She opened her eyes. This wasn't Cort's room. Silly her, she'd forgotten about last night, how she was staying with Lu now. The hotel room was sort of beige, and had a window view of the outside of Sol, while Cort's room was poorly-lit, and closer to grey. Some light was shining out of the window into the room onto her and Lu, who was curled up on the other bed. It was nicer here, but there was still that twinge of disappointment when she realized she couldn't just walk out of the room and see Cort. Of course there were bigger problems. Of course it was more important to worry about being found, about being taken away, but she found her mind returning to Cort. His eyes, his voice, the way he smiled, the way his hair fell over his eyes before he had time to fix it in the morning, or maybe it wasn't any of these things, just _him_…

It wasn't her fault. Maybe she'd only known him for a week or so, but a lifetime ago she had loved him for years. She'd grown up dreaming of him, thinking that if he was real, he'd be the man she wanted to marry. Maybe she was getting ahead of herself, but she'd been getting ahead of herself since before she was born. Of course she was getting ahead of herself. It wasn't something she had control over. Last night… last night he'd taken her out, drank with her, laughed with her. Couldn't Lu have shown up a little later? Cort seemed happy being around her. Maybe… no. Nothing would have happened.

She was in love, but she couldn't help it. It wasn't fair.

* * *

As soon as he was out of the house, Cort went back to the hotel. It was a beautiful day, the kind they talked about in stories. There was sun coming into the tower, and the plants along the walkways were lush and green. Cort even heard the chirping of some birds.

Something felt wrong. There was an unexplained tension, a stillness that wasn't just rest, but constriction. Maybe it was only because he hadn't slept, but things felt almost _too_ idyllic, like something put together perfectly just so it could break. And going back to sleep was out of the question. Right now, he just wanted to see Zora. He was nervous. What if Lu broke her word? But worrying about Zora and Lu stopped Cort from worrying if Key was really crazy enough to want to bring the Mist back.

Zora. Hotel. Upstairs. He was too tired to think about it all anymore.

"You thought about what I said, right?" asked Lu. She was lying on her stomach on the bed closer to the window, propping herself up with her elbows and trying to style Zora's hair like it had been back in Conkram. Zora sat on the floor, leaning on the side of the bed.

"About what?" said Zora.

"Going back," said Lu, running the brush through Zora's hair. "Have you thought about it? I mean, really considered it?" She sighed in frustration. Zora's hair was shorter now then it had been in Conkram, and no matter what Lu did, it wouldn't stay in place.

"Ow!" said Zora. "Stop pulling."

"It's safer there for you," Lu went on. She tried to smooth Zora's hair back into place, but again, it sprung out. "I guess Key didn't cut it so you'd look like you used to." She ruffled Zora's hair back into its usual shape, parts of it now sticking out awkwardly.

"I wanted to keep it longer," Zora admitted, glad for the subject change. "Key said I needed to look like the girls do nowadays, though." It was nice to be able to complain about her hair. Now that she knew Conkram was real, it made sense to her why she had wanted to look like Zora from her dreams. Besides, she didn't want to discuss going back. It wasn't even something she could really consider: it was dangerous there, and here, there was Cort.

"A lot of good that did," said Lu. "It should have been up to you." She put down the hairbrush. "Zora, a lot of things should have been up to you, and there are people out there who are going to make your choices for you and use you and they aren't going to give a flying fuck about whatever happens to you as long as they get what they want. You know that, right?"

"It's just hair, Lu," said Zora absentmindedly. "It's not important." Even though to Zora, her appearance _was_ a little important, Lu had now left the discussion of hair, and had entered some other topic that Zora didn't really understand. It was unsettling; the things Lu said were obvious, but there was something behind them that made Zora just want to drop the topic entirely.

"Please?" Lu almost-begged. "Come back with me. I'll talk to Key for you. Things will be better."

"But Cort will still be here!" replied Zora.

"Cort's going to be fine," said Lu. "He's where he needs to be. Think about yourself for now."

"But he wants me to stay! I mean, he likes me… at least a little." She stopped. "That's not what I meant, either. I mean, _I_ want to stay with him." Zora looked around for a second, as if she was worried someone was listening, then turned around to face Lu. "You can't tell him this, but I'm, uh, I mean I think I'm…" She lowered her voice. "…falling in love with him again." It was cheesy and cliché even as she said it, and inside she cringed.

"Don't," said Lu. "We died because of him, remember?" Zora froze. She must have died in the Mist. But, then, it would have been the Mist that killed her, not Cort. She could live with that. "You don't want to fall in love with someone like him. Come back home. Now that you remembered, Key's going to let you live with us for sure. It'll be so much safer there. You know, you can meet my brother, too."

There was something sad in Lu's expression for a moment, and it struck Zora that what Lu said was strange. Brother? That didn't fit right with how Zora remembered the Delilases.

"Didn't you have two brothers, not one?" Zora asked. Lu turned away.

"Yeah," she said. "I did." And that was the end of _that_ line of conversation. "Trust me, Zora, you don't want to fall in love with Cort."

"You… you know something you're not telling me, don't you?" Zora asked. But before Lu could answer, a piercing scream came from outside.

* * *

Cort saw it all. A blur of skin and muscles and torn clothing barreled down the walkway. At first, Cort thought the man was just some inconsiderate ass trying to get to wherever he was going as fast as he could, then Cort decided that it was more likely that the man was a criminal trying to avoid getting caught, but when he knocked the woman in front of him away… that couldn't have been human. She started to scream loudly, but then she slammed into the wall on the side of the tower, her voice cutting off at the moment of impact. Cort could have sworn he heard something crack. The man stopped for a second, catching his breath, and Cort could see him much more clearly.

It was Dirn.

His lab coat was nearly shredded in some places, and around the cuffs and sides, it was stained red. His skin was just a shade greyer than anything that was possibly normal, and it appeared he'd gotten tangled in some kind of mechanical device. There were cords and wires wrapped around his shoulders and torso. He turned to look at Cort, and the look in his eyes was absolutely insane.

And Cort didn't have time to place that look, because right away Dirn was off and after him, but he'd seen it before. It was the look of those people possessed by the Seru… but it couldn't be, there _were_ no Seru now…

Dirn charged. It would have been laughable if it wasn't dangerous, terrifying. Cort scrambled down the walkway. Dirn gained on him, Cort almost tripping over his own feet, and why, _why_ did he leave his knife at home? He'd been taught to fight by Vahn, and maybe it still wouldn't have been a pleasant situation if he'd remembered to bring it—it was new, and he really had no excuse for forgetting—but it wouldn't have been such sheer terror. He ran faster, but Dirn reached for him, clawing at his leg, but just missing him and instead tearing off part of the walkway. Cort fell, and there was Dirn, ready to pin him to the ground and attack…

He rolled. It almost took him off the edge, and for a second he was more afraid of falling than of being ripped to pieces. He was between the edge and Dirn, and if he got to a safer part of the walkway, he'd certainly leave himself vulnerable. It was a stupid thought, and definitely not the time, but Tieg, wouldn't Zora be sad to hear he had died…

Dirn looked the other way. Someone else was running towards him, all spiky green hair and clothes almost as dark as Cort's. But Cort didn't have time to think, or to stare. He pushed himself up and took off again. Dirn didn't follow. Perhaps a saner Dirn would have recognized Cort, from the pictures in books or from the brief time they'd seen each other. But Dirn was just like a victim of the Mist, now, and Cort knew what that meant. It didn't matter that Cort was Cort. He was a moving target to attack, and now a different target was approaching, a better target that didn't try to run away. Well, good for Cort. If whoever was stupid enough to put himself in the way of a lunatic got himself killed, then Cort certainly wouldn't shed any tears.

He would have never figured himself to be that same stupid type, to put himself in deliberate danger in order to save someone else. That was Vahn and Noa's job. But it wasn't that the spiky-haired boy would get hurt, it was that he had a personal score to settle with Dirn. It was the sleeplessness talking, he decided as he stopped running, turned around. And it was also the sleeplessness talking, but he could clearly remember the dream of the ball, when Zora was suddenly more… something. He'd wanted to kiss her, hadn't he?

Cort couldn't understand himself, couldn't comprehend what he was doing, but one foot went front of the other, carrying himself closer and closer to someone capable and willing to rip him apart. He didn't even have a weapon. Why was he doing this? He was scared, like a small child whose parents were far, far away, and for some reason he was pushing himself even farther from them. Everywhere behind him was a place to hide, a place that, temporarily, would keep him from Dirn, but he was distancing himself from safety by the second. There was noise all around him, but the noise didn't matter, because there was Dirn, back turned to Cort. Ahead of him was the green-haired boy, giving a short nod to Cort and then jumping back to keep a safe distance between himself and Dirn. Well, it shouldn't have surprised Cort anymore to see the boy, what with everyone else he had known suddenly coming back. Nothing else lately had made any more sense.

* * *

"My brother!" Lu yelled. "That's my brother out there!" There were people screaming outside of the hotel, and someone in the hall had just yelled for everyone to lock their doors. Zora had tried to look out the window, but Lu crowded the window, almost pushing her out of the way. Zora couldn't see anything, couldn't tell what all the fuss was about… until there was Dirn. She shrunk back, and then Gi Delilas had come dashing down the steps after him, and she leaned forward to look again. Lu and Zora stood at the window, looking down at the scene, and then out of the corners of their eyes, they could just barely see Cort.

"Cort's out there, too!" said Zora. "What's going on?"

"Something must have happened to Dirn," murmured Lu. "He probably got in the way of one of the experiments, or _something_… I don't know, Zora. Gi—you remember his name, right?—he could get hurt really bad…" Zora couldn't remember another time when Lu looked so unsure.

"There has to be something we can do," said Zora. A memory from the night before came to mind. It was one of the blurry ones, where she wasn't really her, and it sent chills up her spine to think of it, but… "Wasn't I… wasn't I able to fight, too?" She took a couple shaky steps towards the door, before Lu pulled her back.

"Not without a Seru, you couldn't!" Lu snapped, grabbing onto the back of Zora's dress. "In case you noticed, we don't have Seru anymore. He'd kill you!"

"But we have to help Cort!" Zora cried. "Please!"

"And you don't think I want to help Gi?"

"Then go out there and help him!"

"Zora, I _can't_."

"Why can't you? I saw what you did to that guy at the bar. I know you can fight, now please, help them!" Zora knew she was reduced to begging, and she hated this, but by herself she was useless.

"I can't help them because I have to stay with you!" Lu replied.

"What?"

"I made a promise I'd protect you, and you might not remember it, but I do. Gi promised, too. I'm not going to leave you alone when the town is under attack."

"Cort and your brother could die, and you're not going to go help them because of me?" Zora yelled. "Please! This is what I want! If I'm so important, doesn't that matter?"

"You haven't always…" Lu started, "… made the best decisions for yourself. I think… I think I'm right, here." Her voice was low, cold, but Zora heard a bit of a tremor, and maybe she was imagining it, but was that a tear threatening to slip out of Lu's eye?

"But… but what about Gi?"

"He can take care of himself," said Lu. "He'll be fine." She was short with her words, as if she didn't really want to say them at all.

Whoever was in the hall yelled again about staying in the hotel and locking the doors, and someone who could fight like Lu Delilas could fight wouldn't have to listen to a hotel manager about whether or not she could leave, but to Zora, this felt final. They'd be staying inside.

It was up to Cort and Gi, now.


	8. Heartbeat

**Destruction Again**

**8**. Heartbeat

Rating: T  
Warnings: Stuff I've warned about before, violence and fighting and stuff, language, more Zora/Cort than this fanfic has ever seen before, an incredibly awkward moment, and death.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Legaia and I'm not attempting to make a profit through writing fanfiction.  
A/N: Incredibly long chapter is incredibly long. I didn't see a good place to break it off, or else it would have been shorter. I have not written very many fight scenes before, so I hope this doesn't absolutely suck. If I was giving the chapters silly names, this would have been "Nobody is Likeable!". These people were villians for a reason, and even if they believed themselves to be innocent, or weren't really in a situation where their actions were significant, they aren't magically now Not Villian Material, even if they're the heroes of this particular story. :3

* * *

Dirn swung his fist at Gi, who slid backwards, then ducked under, lunged forward, and slashed Dirn across the stomach with the dagger he'd clenched in his fist. It was all Cort could really do to follow the action. He stumbled back and looked around for some way he could help.

It was all good and fine to join the fight, to run blindly into the action, but it was different when you didn't know what the hell you were doing. Maybe Vahn had taught him a few tricks, but this was hardly a fair fight—Cort certainly couldn't block someone who seemed to have supernatural powers, and there was no way he could get close enough to Dirn in order to throw him. It was too late to look for a weapon now, and without one, he was useless.

How _did_ this happen? Odds were good that he was going to die. He knew he'd be risking his life when he ran up the stairs, but he didn't think he'd be just throwing it away. This was, no question about it, the stupidest thing he'd ever done. He couldn't help anyone like this. Perhaps under normal circumstances, he'd think about how incredibly stupid he would look to whoever was watching him (he would no longer only be evil and dirty, but also either a raving loon or an idiot or both), but this was just… too scary. Zora, and his (and it meant he was _really_ afraid if he barely even hesitated at the word) family, and… well, there wasn't really anyone else who cared that he was alive, but he didn't want these people to have to hear that he was dead. Especially not if he died in such a stupid, preventable kind of way. But it didn't seem like there was any other choice… he couldn't just have let Gi die, right?

Dirn swung out at Gi again, who leapt out, then leapt back in. Cort looked around. Chunks and pieces of the walkway lay scattered about, some small enough to throw. He picked up one about the size of his fist. It was better than nothing, right? Gi stumbled back a little, and Cort wound his arm back and threw the chunk of the walkway at Dirn. It bounced off, probably more annoying than painful.

And _oh god_, hadn't Dirn's stomach been injured? Maybe it wasn't much, but Cort had definitely seen blood, and there wasn't any blood now, just a torn lab coat and sweater… was he healing himself? There was no way they could stop him if he wouldn't just stay hurt… no doubt about it, Cort was going to die. Would everybody else die, too? Maybe Dirn was going after Zora, trying to kill her like before… but if he was, then he was taking his sweet time about it. It seemed more random, and for that all the more terrifying, and he thought again that this was so much like back when the Mist was around, so much like how people acted after they'd been caught in the Mist while wearing Seru.

Gi must have been staring too, and Cort saw it before he did (or maybe it was just that he saw it happening—he had never really been the fast one) when Dirn batted Gi away in that second before he could react. Cort wanted to scream, wanted to call out, but his throat tightened in the shock, and maybe it really would have been too late anyway. Gi crumpled and fell, and then it was only Dirn and Cort standing there.

* * *

Lu was getting restless, Zora could tell. Nobody could leave the hotel, but one room had a clearer view of the events than anywhere else, so all the guests had packed in. Lu was shorter even than Zora, and couldn't see over the people who had crowded around the window. Unable to get a passable view, she'd taken to pacing the length of the room. Zora bit her lip. She'd managed to please-and-thank-you her way to the window, but she'd almost rather be in the back of the room with Lu. Getting frustrated about being unable to see anything seemed better than watching the scene unfold below her. Cort and Gi were trying their hardest, but Gi's attacks weren't accomplishing _anything_, and Cort didn't even have a weapon... were they going to die? Through the crowd, she could see Lu, still pacing and obviously worried about her brother. Why wouldn't Lu go help them? Why wouldn't she just leave and go help them? Nothing could happen to Zora if she stayed here, nobody could hurt her in front of all of these people or kidnap her or take her away. She would be safe, and Lu just didn't see that.

There was a collective gasp in the crowd, and Zora turned to look back outside. Something bad happened to Gi, something was wrong. And maybe she was horrible for thinking this, but the first thing in her mind wasn't how much she was worried about Gi, but that Gi needed to be there, because Cort couldn't even defend himself like this. What was going to happen to Cort? He couldn't win, he just couldn't, not alone, and the odds were so unbalanced already.

"That poor boy," somebody murmured, and Zora didn't know which boy they meant, but in her mind, there was no question that it was Cort.

He was going to die. Oh god, he was the love of her life and he was going to die and Lu wasn't going to do a damn thing about it! Zora felt like she was going to scream, like she could push through the crowd and the people and just grab Lu and shake her, but that wouldn't do anything, not since Lu was stronger than her and it seemed like her mind was made up, and if only Zora could have her Seru back she'd defend Cort herself... she would never let any harm come to him, ever, and if necessary she would take that harm upon herself to protect him…

"EVERYBODY GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!" Lu screamed, trying to elbow her way to the front. She'd reached her breaking point, unable to see what was going on, and probably suspecting more and more that things did not look good for Gi. "GET OUT OF THE WAY, THAT'S MY BROTHER OUT THERE!" Her voice was broken, high, and crackly, unlike the steady, tough way she usually spoke. "Zora," she murmured, less loudly but nothing like regular, mostly-invulnerable Lu, "what happened?"

"Dirn attacked Gi," Zora said. "Please, please Lu…"

"It wasn't supposed to be him," Lu mumbled. "I mean, I wanted... I don't know, not like this…"

"Please, Lu, there's still time," said Zora. "If you hurry, he might still be okay!"

"Why couldn't it have been Cort?" she asked. Somebody looked outside and screamed—about what, if anything, Zora didn't know. She was too afraid to look out the window herself, and it was all she could do to pretend Lu hadn't said anything, because she would _not_ let anyone talk about Cort like that, not when he was about to…

"We're all going to die, aren't we?" The crowd was getting worse. She could sense the hysteria in the room, the way things were breaking down.

"That man out there, it's the Mist again! It has to be!" yelled a middle-aged lady.

"It _can't_ be the Mist, if it was it wouldn't—"

"I'm 67 years old, and I've seen a lot of things, and I'm telling you, that's the work of the Mist!"

"It's not the Mist! You're wrong!"

"If it's not the Mist, then it's worse than the Mist!" People were screaming and crying now without a shadow of self-consciousness. Lu leaned against the window, eyes wide, teeth gritted. Zora guessed that she was weighing the worth of the people she cared about, trying to decide who was more important to her. She wasn't crying like the others—her memories told her that Lu Delilas was not an easy crier, even if maybe she had come pretty close just before—but she had that look about her that seemed like even if she wasn't crying, the same kind of feelings were there. All of these people, panicking… if staying in the hotel was the safest course of action now, then it wouldn't be for much longer. But what could Zora do?

"Tieg has abandoned us!" yelled the old man. He was overdramatic, to say the least. Tieg had surely abandoned the Legaians worse in the past, and the man had certainly lived through that, but there was sometimes no better way than religious overstatements to express a situation. Nevertheless, something about what he said struck a chord with Zora.

"No," said Zora, and the words came fast, automatic. "Tieg will never abandon us. Even in the worst times, he's watching over us. Don't lose faith." It seemed wildly inappropriate to say, and she wondered why she'd even let something like that out of her mouth.. She'd learned as much about Tieg as she could through reading, and at one time she'd fancied herself to be religious. She believed in him, put a certain amount of faith in him (enough to make her feel better when she didn't get her way) but even she knew that she wouldn't accept His plan if it meant something horrible happening to Cort. It wasn't genuine. If faith was absolute, she'd lost it long ago, and it didn't really bother her at all. (after all, in losing faith in something, she'd found faith in something else. Or someone.)

But even as she questioned it, the memories came—_you were the High Priest, remember? You can help them, you can calm them down._ And then maybe, just maybe, Lu would be willing to leave, willing to help her.

It was ridiculous, but right now, people were willing to listen. Zora started to explain herself, to say a prayer.

* * *

There was still time to run. Cort did the calculations in his head. If he turned away and sped off as quickly as possible, ducked into a building or a storage area and bolted the door behind him, he might stand a chance. Of course, that would be only if he could barricade the door quickly enough, and if Dirn couldn't break down the door or lost his interest or found a better target. Cort could survive.

But he wouldn't let himself run away. His altruism was failing him—although he knew it was wonderful to do the right thing simply because it was right, that wasn't enough to keep him there anymore. _If I leave Gi here, then Lu's going to hate me even more. Enough to risk telling Zora about…_ he let it trail off there. No way would he think about it, not now. He picked up another piece of walkway, and threw it at Dirn. Perhaps even this would be better than Zora finding out…

_She's going to find out anyway!_

and now was not the time for this, Cort kept trying to tell himself. Concentrate on Dirn… Dirn was getting closer now, and Cort just barely managed to get out of the way… was that vapor coming from those wires and pipes? He was close enough to breathe it in. Something about the device was still working, and Cort couldn't understand how it wasn't completely destroyed yet, but it was a bad, bad idea to try to concentrate too much on whatever that thing was, because if he concentrated on why there was vapor and pipes and wires—

_Of course you know what that does, Cort, you're a scientist. You've seen that before. Now, the first thing you have to do is let him get Gi. Just keep it up like you're trying, and everyone will see what you want them to see, but that's one less risk you have to take. Never risk your life for somebody else, Cort. And besides, if Gi's not around, that's one less person who knows what you've done. Who knows, he was probably on Lu's side anyway… she's quicker than you, you know, but there's a distinct lack of creativity there. You probably can't charm her again. It's best to just get her out of the way. You could tell everyone she was plotting to kill Zora, and they'd believe you, Zora would believe you and she'd never hold it against you for anything you'd done… If you don't let her remember, then she would do _anything _for you… she would die for you, Cort, and that's definitely a powerful tool to have on your side…_

—he'd lose track of where Dirn was, and what was that? He felt his head clear. That hadn't come from him… had it? He picked up another rock, wound back, and prepared to throw it at Dirn. That couldn't have been his own voice… no _way_…

There wasn't any way he could win, but if he left now, then that would mean those words… no, he wouldn't let it be true. And besides, he didn't have any other options, really, nothing was for certain even if he did turn around and run away and he was really getting sick of convincing himself of this… _that was it_, he couldn't stay there any longer. It would be sad about Gi, but he was scared and panicked and there was nothing he could do and his heart was beating so fast that it felt like his chest was about to explode. He could find a way out of this situation. He could survive, and really, nobody could fault him for it (and if they did…well, there would always be ways to take care of it.)

* * *

"Can you go? Can you go now?" asked Zora. She'd been composed throughout the prayer, holding her voice and her face in what she thought was an acceptable imitation of calm, but as soon as it was over, she'd turned to Lu and started pleading. Some of the people had listened to her, others had sat down or turned away—the youngish man in red, for one, seemed to want no part of what she was doing—but she had diffused the tension, taken the attention away from the scene outside, and it had worked.

"Promise you won't do anything stupid?" asked Lu. "Promise you'll stay _right here_ where it's safe?"

"Okay," said Zora, nodding her head. _Okay, okay, okay! Hurry up, stop it and __just _go_!_ And it wasn't right. She _knew_ it wasn't right. But somehow, it didn't matter that Lu was risking her life, that Gi could die, too, that Dirn was there to do whatever it is he was there to do… Cort had a better chance now. She'd let Gi, Lu, all of them be killed; she'd watch them all die before she'd let anything happen to Cort, and yes, it was wrong, but it didn't matter if nobody knew about it. She'd never tell anyone she thought that way, that her love ran so deep.

If only they hadn't gotten rid of the fucking Seru, she'd be able to fly down there and protect Cort herself.

"Promise?"

"I promise, Lu," Zora sighed. The clock was ticking. Any second Lu was wasting, Cort could be injured or dying or _something_, and she was wasting time right now… Lu paused. She looked unsure of herself, second-guessing her decision _again_. Zora looked up, met her eyes, and tried to give off that pleading puppy dog stare that always worked in the books she'd read. _Please, Lu, just go._

It must have worked. Lu headed for the door with a "Remember, you promised", and nobody attempted to stop her as she left. Zora leaned up against the window again. The crowd had dispersed, somewhat. Nobody had left the room, but they weren't crowded around the window anymore, and Zora didn't have to squeeze in between the Sol citizens. She tried to look, tried to make herself see what was going on, but it wasn't easy to tell anymore, and she wasn't sure she really wanted to see. Lu would help, right?

She tried to pray, but it didn't seem sincere to act devoted to Tieg when her love for Cort was right there.

* * *

Was that… footsteps? Cort tried to place the noise. It wasn't Dirn, or himself, and it obviously wasn't Gi. It wasn't something he'd been paying attention to, but the Sol streets were completely empty apart from the three of them, and some of the people Dirn had attacked. It made sense. There was a rampaging maniac on the loose—of _course_ everyone would get off the streets who could. Except for him, of course, and he had to get out of there, _had to get out of there_, too, if he could find it in himself to leave. There was still a pull to stay, but he had to ignore it, had to leave, or maybe he had to ignore _that_ and stay.

The footsteps were getting louder.

Cort saw Lu Delilas run down the stairs like a rush of angry pink, and he hated the stupid bitch but he'd never been happier to see her, this life or before. She was carrying a small dagger. It wasn't that much better than being unarmed, but at least at one time, Lu had been trained to fight with whatever she had, and she seemed to remember pretty much everything. There was a chance now that Cort would survive the day.

She ran, and screamed out something incomprehensible (Cort could make out the word "brother", just barely) and jumped at Dirn. He blocked her, readied himself to pick her up and throw her, or possibly just smash her skull in… she probably didn't even look like a real threat to him, even. His arm came down and she jumped away.

"Is he okay?" she yelled, eyes still on Dirn. Oh, right. Cort stumbled over to Gi. He could see the boy's chest rising and falling, and his contorted position looked downright uncomfortable, but nothing really appeared to be wrong with him. Still, it would be a good idea to check his pulse. Cont bent down and took Gi's wrist in his hands—and Gi flinched, startling Cort, who dropped Gi's arm out ofsurprise.

Cort had really thought Gi was out cold.

"Yeah, I think so," he called back at Lu. He looked again. Something was different about her. She wasn't getting tired out or even a little slower, like Cort would have thought (after all, Lu was quick but Dirn was… superhuman). The rate of her attacks seemed to be speeding up, and the way she whirled away from Dirn was beginning to resemble a frantic dance. Cort couldn't help, and he knew he couldn't help, but at the same time, he had the feeling it didn't look good that he wasn't helping. He stood next to Gi, wondering whether to get closer to the fight or to back off, wishing there was something he could do, because Dirn didn't seem so threatening around someone he couldn't hit, and it would just suck if _Lu Delilas_ got all the glory.

Her lips were darker, now. Her skin seemed a little paler, and there was something altogether inhuman about the way she was moving. She wasn't hurting Dirn, not really, but she was pushing him, moving him in the direction she wanted him to go by letting him lunge out at her, every step taking him farther away from her brother. But how would that help? She wasn't about to tire him out, not with the way he'd been going on, and even with whatever was happening to her, she would give out before he would.

But there was a place on the walkway where Dirn himself had destroyed the railing.

Cort felt a chill—this was the first time in his current life that he was planning the death of another human being, but there really wasn't another choice. Dirn would keep destroying and killing and breaking, or he would have to be killed.

"Lu, see the railing?" Cort didn't know if Dirn could understand him anymore, or if that mattered. He wasn't even sure that _Lu_ could understand him at this point. But sure enough, she nodded her head.

"Got it," she said, in a voice like something feral. Lu turned, Dirn followed. He attacked, she flitted away, she attacked, he dodged, and it all brought him closer and closer to the edge of the walkway. And there was something in the back of Cort's mind about how he shouldn't be excited for this, about how it was a necessary evil, but nothing to celebrate—and he ignored it. Dirn was evil. Dirn was destroying Sol. This was a good thing.

Maybe if Cort got in the habit of good things, people wouldn't think he was so evil anymore. The possibility was… beyond appealing to him.

And then Dirn kicked out at Lu. She must not have been expecting that kind of hit, something out of the rhythm of the way the fight had been going. Lu growled, managing to dodge the attack oh-so-closely, but losing her balance in the process. She fell, landed on her knees. Maybe Lu would be okay, but Dirn, he could get out of the way, losing all the progress they'd made… and right now he seemed a bit off-balance, too, but that would only last for a moment. Forgetting his fear, Cort ran forward, threw his weight into Dirn in a last-ditch effort to push him off the edge. He slammed into the scientist, feeling the pipes and wires against his arm, and then Dirn lost his balance completely.

Cort didn't see Dirn fall. He had closed his eyes when he pushed Dirn off the edge, but one moment there had been something there against his arm, and then the next, Cort just felt empty air. There was a quick scream, and then a thud. Lu stood up.

"Should I check?" she asked. "You know, just in case?" That unnatural edge in her voice was fading. Lu never had a singer's voice, or even a very melodic one, but she was starting to sound like herself again. Cort never would have thought it, but he was glad for that—the change in her had been eerie, almost familiar. But hadn't something changed in Cort himself, too? Those thoughts hadn't been him. They just couldn't have.

Lu started to run downstairs. She was still fast, but she had slowed down to the possibility of a normal human. Probably she was tired too, and Cort saw her knees were badly skinned from when she fell. Cort tried to remember what he was doing before all of this started. Oh, yes. He was going to see Zora. Gi had by now opened his eyes enough to glare at him. Great. Another angry Delilas. Cort let himself catch his breath. What had just happened was terrifying, and his heart was just winding down enough to be back to normal, but he wasn't about to die. He'd be okay. He looked over the edge, saw Lu looking at Dirn's body, and then he knew the fight was over. That thing down there couldn't hurt them anymore. She'd unwound the machinery from him and cast it aside, and checked his pulse and breathing. Then she kicked him in the ribs, hard (although Cort suspected that was more because he almost killed her brother, and less because she was still uncertain if he was really dead), and he didn't move. Lu came running back.

"He's gone," she said to Cort, still with that Delilas glare. She turned to her brother. "You're an idiot! Why the hell did you… I thought you were going to die! I thought you were really going to die!" Her voice and coloring were back to normal, to the point where it was hard to believe anything had changed at all.

"Lu, I'm sorry, I was trying…" Gi didn't sound as dazed as Cort had assumed he would, but it wasn't any of his business to listen in on them when there were better things for him to be doing. He had really thought that he would never see Zora again, and now that he could, visiting Zora seemed to be the single most appealing thing to do in all of Legaia.

"I don't care! How could you _do_ that to me!" Lu was really crying now, and Cort briefly turned his head to see that she'd crouched down to hug Gi. She was yelling at him, but she wasn't doing a very good job of being angry. Cort could only see how happy she was that he was okay. Even though he shouldn't be okay. After what Cort had seen, he definitely shouldn't have been that unharmed. Still, Lu wasn't being as much of a stupid bitch anymore, and by now it _really_ was none of his business. Cort started up the steps again to the hotel, embarrassed to look at something that seemed like a private moment. But they could cry or hug or whatever, they didn't like him and he didn't like them and he didn't care if they were happy or not. Good for them.

"Cort?"

Somebody was calling out for him. It wasn't Zora, and for the most part, people did know his name. Word travelled pretty quickly. Could it be… no, it didn't matter, because it definitely wasn't Zora. Her voice was younger, but a little bit more refined, too. He kept going. And there at the hotel, there was a girl in a short dress with messy hair waving out the window, with a look of complete happiness on her face.

"Cort!" she yelled. "You're okay!" By the time Cort could get himself over to the hotel door itself, Zora had made her way down the stairs and nearly bowled him over, landing in his arms. "I saw everything through the window, it was, it was… I don't have to worry about Dirn anymore and I remembered stuff and you're okay!" She was babbling, but under the circumstances, it was completely understandable. He settled his hand at the back of her head, in the hair that really was cut too short to look like Zora's, and she leaned on him, arms on his chest, all composure shattered now that it was all okay. He told her everything, everything but what had happened to Lu. What had happened to him, too, even if only for a minute. Zora didn't need to know about those things. She probably couldn't even remember everything it meant. She didn't need that; she was happy how she was, wasn't she? Ignorance was bliss, as the old saying went.

And before Cort knew it, she'd leaned in a lot closer, and the hand that had been on the back of her head was floating in empty air (and try as he might to not think about it, the feeling was disturbingly similar to his arm, his side, meeting only empty air now that Dirn was pushed off the walkway and killed, killed by him, even if it was really a good thing to do). If one asked Zora about it, she'd say Cort had leaned in to kiss _her_, and that she really couldn't be blamed, but he knew it was obviously her fault. It wasn't something he could be help accountable for.

But they were kissing now, and it wasn't much like what Cort had imagined kissing to be. He certainly hadn't kissed someone in this life, and he didn't have any memories of kissing, either. He'd seen enough kisses to go by, but doing it was something incredibly new, it wasn't just touching lips or tongues to prove to everyone how _in love_ you were, it was… something he'd been missing out on. He knew he wasn't particularly good at it, but she was hesitant, too, and her lips were soft and warm. And the best part of it, really, was the way she held herself against him as if she _needed_ him, as if she thought she'd be incomplete, broken without him—ironic, really, seeing as she felt so thin and weak that he could easily break her.

It felt incredible to be needed so much.

His hand found its way back to her head, and he gripped a handful of her hair, holding her in the kiss. It was sloppy, ill-timed, without that rehearsed quality he'd seen in couples kissing in public, but that didn't make it anything less. If anything, the unpredictability made it better, more, and she'd moved her hands around his waist, closing the distance between them, and it wasn't so much that she was a pretty girl, even though she was, as that she was Zora, _his _Zora, who would do anything for him, _anything_—

"Cort!" called the voice he'd heard, again, and he wondered _why_ he hadn't recognized that voice before, since he'd heard it every day for sixteen years, and if somebody had to walk in on him kissing Zora (not that there had been an in or an out, really. Kissing in the street had to be the stupidest invention mankind had ever come up with, _ever_) why, oh Tieg, did it have to be Noa?

"Cort, what are you…" Cort disentangled himself from Zora, and turned around. There was no way in hell he could make this look like anything other than it really was.

"Noa!" he said. "I'm glad you're okay!" This wasn't the time to be the dutiful son. He wasn't a dutiful son. But maybe he could just change the subject a little, maybe he could distract Noa…

"Are you Key's daughter?" Noa said, looking at Zora. "You are, aren't you! She's been looking all over for you, and you're here… kissing Cort…" Noa trailed off, eyes wide and entirely confused. She'd started out loud, enthusiastic, but there were some situations so incredibly bad that even Noa couldn't stay loud or enthusiastic about them.

"No, I'm not," said Zora, blushing and disheveled and really quite embarrassed. If she'd been messy when she left the hotel, now she looked like a total disaster. "I'm, um, Zora, and I used to know Cort a long time ago, and I really liked him, uh, I still do, obviously… yeah… did I know you, too? I feel like I—" Cort wondered if she remembered Noa at all, or Vahn, or Gala, but Noa cut her off before she could say any more.

"Did Cort tell you that?" she asked, suddenly angry. Cort realized a little too late that Zora was currently dressed in an old outfit of Noa's.

"What?" she asked.

"Did Cort tell you all that?" Noa said, almost yelling and crying. She didn't wait for Zora to answer. "He did, didn't he! You _didn't_ think you were Zora, but you met him, and then he told you all about it! And now you _do_, and you're kissing him because of it, right?" She turned to Cort. "That's right, isn't it! That's just how Key said it would be!" Noa didn't ever speak like a normal person, but she was so upset she slipped into her old patterns of speech more than usual.

"It's not like that!" said Zora. "He didn't do anything like that!" Noa looked away for a moment.

"You think you're Zora, right?" she asked.

"I am!" said Zora. "I don't remember all of it, but it's coming back to me, and honestly, Cort didn't tell me anything, really, I've been remembering things—"

"I met Zora," said Noa. "She would have lied to me, if it would help Cort."  
"But she's telling the truth!" said Cort.

"You're coming back with me, Cort," Noa snapped. "You shouldn't be here!"

"You don't believe her, fine!" Cort yelled. "But what about me?"

It took a couple of seconds for Noa to choke out the words. "You? I thought you'd be able to change!" She stopped. "Cort, please. You're coming back to the apartment with me." He didn't know what to say. He just let Noa lead him by the wrist back to the shitty apartment they lived in, and yes, there was the usual feeling of guilt he carried with him, but there was another guilt, too, something he couldn't quite place.

"I'm really sorry he did this to you," Noa said softly over her shoulder as they left. She didn't address the girl as "Zora", but Cort thought that was to be expected.


	9. Aftermath

**Destruction Again**

**9.** Aftermath

Rating: T  
Warnings: Stuff I've warned about before, angst, NPCishness, and fluffy pillows.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Legaia and I'm not attempting to make a profit through writing fanfiction.  
A/N: This chapter is also incredibly long, which is kind of funny since I thought it was going to be rather short. The next chapter, however, will be SHORT TASTIC. I don't want to be one of those people who gets locked into writing incredibly long chapters! Thank you for the wonderful reviews for last chapter. (okay, it's not like there were an uncharacteristic amount, but the ones I got were wonderful. 333) Also, apparently this story is now compliant with "Everything Green". I get stupid little whims while writing this stuff.

* * *

Cort didn't do much that afternoon.

Noa had dragged him back to the apartment, but once she'd securely gotten him in, she seemed to have difficulty knowing exactly what she wanted to say. She'd started with a "Cort, I…", then tried again, "You know…", and finally stopped at "She's not…" Noa probably wanted to say _something, _but after trying and failing, she turned away, crying, and left.

There wasn't much for Cort to do in the room. If there were books, he could read, and if he could get his mind to stop racing for a moment, he could go to sleep. But if he tried to leave, he'd have to get past Noa—not that Noa would be able to stop him from leaving, anyway, but the thought of seeing her and having to deal with her was enough to keep Cort in the room. He wasn't intimidated. Noa didn't have an intimidating bone in her body. There really wasn't a good reason to be afraid of seeing her, and Cort gave up the search for one. Maybe if he tried to leave, he'd run into Key, and there wasn't a bad reason in the world for avoiding Key, so long as it led to avoiding her.

Did he even have any books in the room? He looked around. Of course not, the books were in the living room… And sleep was out of the question. He _couldn't_ sleep, not with all the adrenaline still pumping through his system. All he could do was just sit there and wait. Cort wasn't particularly impatient, but he didn't like feeling powerless when things were so… something or other. He'd killed Dirn, and he'd… kissed Zora. Or, more accurately, she had kissed him, and he had kissed her back. It felt good to kiss her, but strange, too, like she was somebody else entirely, and whatever happened between them would be different from then on, all because of that kiss. And what was he thinking? He remembered those thoughts, that he could control her or break her, that she depended on him so much—and that had been part of why he liked it. He couldn't stand himself for thinking that way.

And now Noa was going to… damn it, Noa would _never_ believe him.

"Noa? What's wrong?" came a voice from outside the door. It was Key, of course—she was the only person he knew that was cold enough to make an expression of concern sound borderline apathetic. Well, maybe there wasn't 'nothing' to do. Eavesdropping was still an option. He shifted toward the door, pressing his ear against it to better hear the conversation.

"Nothing," Noa replied. From what Cort could hear, she sounded incredibly tired and sad.

"Noa, you're crying," said Key. "That isn't 'nothing'."

"I… You know how worried I was about Cort!" she stammered. The floodgates were apparently open. "And then I went to go find him, and then…" Well, this was it. Noa would tell Key everything, and then Cort didn't know what would happen or even what he was going to do, but… he certainly wouldn't have to worry about keeping anything a secret anymore. He could just take Zora and leave, and maybe it wouldn't be right to do that to Noa, but… "… then I found him and he was angry at me, and he didn't even care that I was worried."

That went differently than Cort had expected. In his mind, Noa would have run to tell Key about Zora, who of course, to Noa, wasn't really Zora at all. But instead, she seemed to be covering for her. It didn't make sense.

"Really?" asked Key. "That's all?" Or maybe Noa was covering for Cort, which made quite a bit more sense. Noa was naive.

"That's all," said Noa. "But that's a lot to me." And yes, Noa was a bad liar, but perhaps Noa knew herself to be a bad liar, and was only really lying until she could find a way to just steer the conversation off course.

"I told you, Vahn and I haven't, you know…"

"Had any children of your own?"

"Yeah," said Noa.

"Any sign of Elisa?" asked Key. _Who the hell's Elisa? _Then he realized it was probably the name Key was using to refer to Zora. It wasn't really an uncommon name these days, but it was a little bit out of the ordinary. Definitely the sort of thing that a woman like Key would name her daughter. "She's not in the hospital, so that's one less thing to worry about… but you were out today. I wasn't, and I haven't seen Lia since yesterday. Perhaps you've seen them?" Lia… Key had mentioned something about having another daughter, and it was possible that she really did, but the picture that formed in Cort's mind of "Lia" was Lu Delilas, just pretending.

"No!" said Noa, a little too quick. "I wasn't really looking for anyone but Cort, and when I found him he was all alone, I think… I don't even remember what your daughters looked like, I'm really sorry."

"That's a pity," said Key. "You're sure?"

"Yeah," said Noa. The voices stopped for a couple seconds, and then Noa started talking again, right back away from Zora. "I don't mind just Cort, but, I don't know. I guess it's worse if you've only got one, and then he doesn't even want you around."

"But, you don't have children," said Key. "It's different. Cort is your brother. It shouldn't mean so much to you, Noa. It's perfectly normal for siblings to hate each other." It was advice, sure, and Key probably seemed caring to Noa (maybe she was faking a sympathetic expression, or she had her hand on Noa's shoulder), but couldn't Noa see that Key wouldn't be saying those things if she really did care? But Noa _was_ trying to lead Key down a different line of conversation, as far as Cort could tell, so maybe it didn't really matter or not whether Key was fighting back, maybe it was more about keeping Key distracted then about receiving comfort from her.

"I don't think of him as my brother," said Noa. "Vahn and I, we raised him from when he was just a baby and I think that means I can…"

"You don't have any children, Noa," Key interrupted. "If you want to be technical about it, you aren't even his _older _sister." She paused. "Is it impossible for you to have children? Is that why you care so much about raising your brother?"

"No!" said Noa. "Well, I don't think so, it's just on purpose that we haven't had any…"

"Why is that?"

"Uh, we move around a lot, and I wouldn't want to them to have to do that…"

"That's not a very good reason, Noa."

"… and because I believe in Cort, really, but I'm not _sure_, and I can't have a kid unless I know for sure," Noa finished, quickly. Throughout the conversation, she'd had a stilted tone of voice that told Cort she wasn't being entirely honest, but now it was different. She sounded like she was telling the truth.

_What?_

Cort was sure that Noa trusted him. He'd always considered her trust misplaced, and thought she really _shouldn't_ trust him, because she was stupid and he was just a bad kid, and the best he could do was to be a bad kid instead of a killer (but being a killer didn't make you bad, did it? Just yesterday he'd become a killer… again, and hadn't it been the right thing to do?) What kind of a betrayal was this? Wasn't it Noa's _responsibility_ to trust him, to support him, to have that absolute, absolutely misplaced faith in him that allowed him to get away with anything?

For a moment, he couldn't stand himself. For slightly longer, he couldn't stand Noa.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," said Noa, quickly, crying even more. "I didn't mean it, Key, I was lying, just forget what I said, _please_!"

"Noa," said Key, "I can tell when you're lying to me. You aren't a very good liar."

A door opened and closed, and then the only thing he could hear was Noa's sobs. He could go out and talk to her, but he didn't know who exactly he'd be talking to. Why she didn't tell everything to Key? Why she didn't trust him anymore? (No, not anymore. Even if he'd thought she'd trusted him, that didn't mean she did. Not… recently, anyway.) He could have comforted the Noa he had established in his mind, told her something lighthearted and disingenuous, but he didn't know if there was anything he could do to help the woman in the living room. He stayed in his room, left her to cry.

It wasn't something he felt good about doing, but what else was there to do? He was brave enough to rush into a battle with Dirn, brave enough to kill him, but apparently it took a different form of courage to open up his door and comfort his crying sister… no, "sister" didn't feel like the right word. For all practical purposes, she was his mom.

* * *

It was just another morning in Sol again, full of family and the apartment and taking part in an embarrassingly small world. Cort woke up, got ready, and staggered out into the living room to get breakfast. He'd had trouble sleeping, but at least the dreams weren't bad. His head hurt and he was too tired to concentrate on remembering it, but he'd glided around the ballroom with Zora for a while, before they got bored with the royals and the formalities. Zora had helped him sneak out a bottle of wine, and they'd left. It was wonderful as far as Cort's dreams went, which ranged from somewhat horrible to incredibly horrible, except the ones with Zora. Those ones ranged from pleasant and fun, when he danced with her, to a recipe for self-loathing, when he turned her into a monster, or ordered her killed. But even when he liked being around her, there was something about her that pushed him away, and even when what he did to her made him hate himself… well, he knew himself well enough to know that his "self-hatred" was nothing more than wondering why such a wonderful person with a great potential was stuck being Cort. Zora was just confusing.

He wished he'd have gotten a little more sleep. Noa and Vahn were chattering in the kitchen. It hadn't woken him up, but processing the words made it hard for his brain to concentrate on sleep. It wasn't even a proper conversation. It was rambling and capricious, going from topic to topic to topic—Vahn told Noa that people were thinking what happened with Dirn had something to do with the Mist, and then the two started rattling off the reasons such an idea was ridiculous.

Cort wondered if there was an unspoken agreement that one of the reasons was that Cort himself didn't have access to a laboratory, and was otherwise occupied being a moody teenager.

Then the conversation shifted to the Mist in general (if they could just have a _boring_ conversation, it would be easier to ignore them), and stayed there only for maybe a minute before Vahn and Noa started talking about their Ra-Seru.

"Yeah, I remember her," said Vahn. "I mean, she was your Seru, not mine, but she was always there for you, you know?"

"I didn't get to know Meta as well as I wanted," Noa confessed. "I mean, he was… attached to you and all, but it was kinda hard talking to something on somebody else's arm…" Vahn laughed a little.

"I miss him, though," said Vahn.

"I know. I still miss Terra," replied Noa. The door creaked loudly when Cort let himself in to the kitchen. She looked up. "Oh, you're up early, Cort! I made bacon!" At least Noa could pronounce "bacon" correctly, if not "pancakes". Cort didn't really feel like eating bacon, but he let Noa serve him a couple slices anyway.

"For a while, I couldn't believe she was gone," said Noa. "I knew it somewhere, I guess. But I just thought it all had to be wrong, and she'd be right there again any moment. If you saw me, you'd think I was crazy, but… I just needed her to be there again." The tone of the conversation completely changed when Cort entered the room, and he could tell. It didn't necessarily mean anything. They _had _been jumping around all over the place in their conversation just before. But Cort had a funny feeling that this conversation was more about Cort and Zora than about Terra and Noa. "And finally, I could see it, that she was gone, and wanting her back couldn't bring her back, and I had to just keep going."

"You'll see her again someday," said Vahn. "Maybe not here, but somewhere, Noa." He was kind, reassuring his wife, and _completely missing the point_. Then again, he seemed to be somewhat outside the loop in all of this.

"I hope we end up in the same place," Noa said. "But for now, all I can do is be the kind of Noa that Terra would want to see again." Great Tieg, this was contrived.

Cort didn't want to hear this. He took his remaining slice of bacon, and left, but this time he managed to say a pleasant goodbye.

* * *

The city wasn't its usual self, of course. There was still an air of dread after the Dirn attack, and everywhere Cort looked, there were signs of the damage. The people moved cautiously, slowly, and the missing piece of railing was tied off with a rope. Cort's eyes fell on a couple, who were probably a little older than Noa and Vahn. He supposed they were married. They didn't seem somber or worried, although they did have an air of confusion about them as if they wondered why the town was like this. Perhaps they didn't live there? What an awful coincidence, to go for a visit and find the town like, well, like this. They seemed a bit familiar, and either they didn't recognize Cort, or they just didn't see him. Lots of people were familiar. He'd lived in a lot of different places, and tourists, of course would come from somewhere else. It wasn't important. But Cort still waited for them to pass before he continued on.

"Hey," somebody said. Cort looked over. It was a boy a quite a bit younger than him, with short blonde hair and an orange shirt. "You don't happen to be… you know…"

"Prince Cort?" he said, sighing. Of course, although he had to give credit to the people of Sol. It must have been a new record, how quickly

"That's not what I meant," said the boy. "Are you that guy who saved Sol yesterday?"

"I…guess…" said Cort, taken off guard, although he wondered why anything could take him off guard after everything that had happened since he met Zora. He hadn't thought of it in terms of saving Sol. He didn't even know if he wanted to think of it in terms of saving Sol, granted his history with the place.

"My friends say you're a hero," the boy said, then gave a quick and embarrassed thank you, ran off, yelling something about having met "that guy you were talking about" to another boy, this one in black. Cort wasn't a hero, he knew it. And yet, it felt nice having people talk about the good things he did, instead of the bad ones, even if having killed someone still felt, in some way, incredibly overwhelming, and a little dark. It didn't make him bad, but it was almost like… having kissed someone while relishing how much control he had over her (he really couldn't do _anything_ right, could he?) But it _was_ her fault, after all, and she had wanted him to kiss her that way. If anyone was to be blamed, it was Zora.

Cort felt stupid for not remembering, but… people had been injured, hadn't they? If these people were going to think he was a hero, then it was the right thing to do to see what had happened. It sounded so pathetic to him. Really, he was just curious, wanting something to do with his time, because how else would he spend the day?

Well, then, to the hospital. It took him a little while to find it, and he started to notice that the way people looked at him was different than usual. People always had given him stares, and people still were giving him stares, but in a lot of those stares, the venom was gone. It was unnerving, in a way. If he couldn't count on people to keep hating him, could he count on them to keep liking him, either? It would be almost better to just be hated and have it over and done with.

Then again, it was nice to see a little less of the venom. He really didn't deserve it, after all. It wasn't his fault how he used to be.

He shook his head. It wasn't important whether people hated him slightly less than they usually did. He had found the hospital, almost by accident, and now, he could see what happened to the casualties. It wasn't as if he cared about them. No, he was a misanthrope, through and through, but this was a task he could set himself to, because it was too much at the moment to think about Noa or Zora or Key.

* * *

It was time to leave the hotel. It was really, really time to leave the hotel, because Zora knew that Noa knew about her, and Zora didn't have a clue who Noa was, except that Noa lived with Cort and was friends with Key. Or maybe not friends, but close enough so that Noa would tell Key where she was staying. Although it didn't seem impossible for Key to find out. Lu was on Key's side, after all, although maybe more because she didn't like Cort than that she thought Key was any better.

It was complicated, to say the least.

Lu knew who Noa was. Lu had a great deal of admiration and respect for Noa, and wanted to meet her in person someday. In fact, it seemed like perhaps Lu already had met Noa, that maybe Noa had something to do with the Mist—there were pieces of the puzzle missing, and Noa seemed to be very important. There were pictures of her everywhere, showing a younger-but-definitely-recognizable Noa, and Noa wasn't just famous for no reason. Wouldn't it be interesting if Noa was a part of this whole thing? Zora wanted to figure it out, wanted to know every possible little bit of memory about her and Cort that there was to find. And if she couldn't find it, well, she could always wait.

Zora had almost convinced Lu to explain it all to her, but Lu had brushed her off. "I can't explain that unless I explain something else, too," Lu had said, and when Zora asked her exactly _what_ that something else was, Lu had frowned. "You'll never believe me." But Zora was pretty sure that Lu was a trustworthy person. She'd believe her, unless it was something completely out of nowhere and unrealistic. She could make her own choices.

But it didn't matter now, solving the puzzle didn't matter, because he'd kissed her. He'd wanted her, because if he kissed her like that, he just _had_ to want her, and maybe even… he loved her. She ran through the kiss in her mind again and again and again. She didn't expect for him to kiss her, and still, almost, it was hard for her to believe that it had actually happened. Cort, showing affection toward her? Romantic affection? That was something from back before she knew her dreams were real.

"We should probably get going," said Lu.

"Why?" asked Gi. "Key's not coming for us." They'd been bickering to each other since yesterday, and Zora supposed this answered the question. If they were about to start an argument about whether to stay or go, then not much would be accomplished in the way of leaving the hotel. Two beds were good enough for Zora and Lu, but for the three of them, it wasn't enough to go around. Gi and Lu had begrudgingly agreed to share, both of them wanting to give the full bed to Zora. At first, it didn't seem like a bad sleeping arrangement, but Zora had heard their argument continue, only in whispers so as not to wake her up. She was almost surprised that the morning had come and neither had smothered the other in their sleep with one of those big, fluffy hotel pillows.

"Maybe if it was just Zora and me," Lu replied, almost bitterly, "but no, you had to run in and be the hero. It might be enough to get her on the move."

"Lu, I had to!" said Gi. "Remember? We talked about this. You care about her as much as I do! You know how dangerous he is, hell, you'd have done the same thing!" Is? Zora thought Dirn was dead. She supposed that Gi didn't know.

"I _didn't_ do the same thing, though!" Lu yelled. Zora cringed at the building volume. "I stayed with Zora, and then I went to go save your ass! Did you want me to be an only child? Is that what you were trying to accomplish?"

"You know what I was trying to accomplish!" Gi nearly roared, "And don't say you wouldn't have been happy if it worked out!"

"Stop it, both of you!" Zora cut in. "Or someone here's going to get fed up and call the management!" She meant to be nicer, really, but they were wearing on her nerves a bit, and she wanted so much to just feel happy. Cort had kissed her. She was busy treasuring the memory, damn it, and they were _not_ going to ruin it for her.

"But Gi," Lu said, quieting herself a little. "I'm not going to lose you. You're too important to me, you know that."

"We're the only family we have left," Gi said. Perhaps he'd heard it before, since there was a slight smirk on his face, but there was something quite sad in his voice.

"I'm sorry," both of them said. Lu had started first, but by the time Gi realized she was talking, it was too late for him _not_ to apologize, and then they both started laughing. Lu… giggled. Zora found it difficult to picture Lu giggling, but there she was, right in front of her.

"Moron," she said.

"Bitch," he replied. They laughed again.

And that was the end of that. The conversation changed, now they seemed to be talking about swords, or… something equally uninteresting. Zora didn't care. They were talking at a normal volume, and so she could daydream of Cort in peace, remembering the kiss. She was totally, completely his, and she couldn't think of anything that would make her happier. He loved her. He really, really loved her—

* * *

It wasn't a bad hospital. There were cots with white sheets, and white curtains on the one wall that had a window view. Several patients lay in the beds, with a doctor and a nurse in white coats making the rounds. The whole place looked painfully clean.

"Can I help you?" asked the girl at the desk, fitting right in with a white uniform and cap, offset only by her green badge. The overall effect was slightly unsettling, popping the badge out like the only color around.

"Do you know what happened to the people who were injured yesterday?" Cort asked. Being polite wasn't very familiar, but he could call it back, although it felt a little strange. It didn't exactly fit on him anymore, but it could, almost.

"Hey, you're that guy, aren't you?" the girl asked. "You wouldn't believe the things people are saying about you." She lowered her head, batted her eyelashes a bit. "Thanks." Her voice was now lower, flirtatious.

"Um…" Cort mumbled, "I'm wondering if they're okay, and stuff…" He felt himself turning an unpleasant shade of pink. It had been a long time since any girl other than Zora had shown interest in him, and while this girl definitely _was_ attractive, she still fell into the category of Any Girl Other Than Zora, which meant Cort was definitely not supposed to return her affections without resolving the matter of Zora first. And he didn't return her affections, but it wasn't as if he could turn someone down, as if he could _dismiss_ them, without looking like an ass. He wasn't a prince anymore.

"Oh, fine," said the girl, adjusting her glasses. She sounded annoyed, but she was blushing, too (embarrassed, probably). "Seven people came in. One of them was dead on arrival, and three of them were okay enough to go home. The rest of them, still here." Well, that seemed reasonable enough. It bothered Cort that somebody had to die, even when he'd tried his best to help them—what right did they have to die?—but less people had been injured than he had estimated. "I'm not allowed to give out names, so don't bother asking."

And that would have been fine, if not for the sudden and inhuman scream coming from the back of the hospital.

"What's that?" asked Cort. The girl had an uneasy look on her face, but she hadn't jumped, or even looked very startled at all. The screams were bothering her, but they weren't anything new.

"What's what?" she replied, nervously. "I didn't hear anything."

"That scream, of course!" Cort said, and then… it couldn't be, it was just completely impossible, but… with what had happened to Lu, it made perfect sense… and really, it wasn't shocking anymore. He'd mostly come to accept it by now. This… worked. Cort didn't have time to be selfish, or to think of his own problems. Helping these people was the perfect selfish solution to his own worries about his own life, complete with things he couldn't fix and didn't know how to deal with. "I think I've heard something like that before." The girl looked at Cort skeptically. "I think I might know what it is."

"Really?" the girl asked, and Cort nodded. She called over a doctor, also wearing a green badge (Cort looked again, and everyone, in fact, was wearing a green badge) with silver hair and a kindly, lined face. Cort introduced himself, and so did the doctor, and they made their way though the patients and nurses to a room in the back of the hospital. Cort caught a glimpse of some of the worse injuries, and hoped he wasn't cringing too visibly.

There were several beds in the back room, too, but there were only two patients. They weren't even sleeping in the beds, or lying down to rest, so the beds seemed completely useless at the moment. They were wandering around, possibly confused (if they had the emotion of confusion, and to Cort, they didn't seem to. He'd already reached the logical conclusion, and there had been enough surprises recently for him to be at the point where not much was surprising anymore.) Both patients were young women, and Cort recognized them. He'd seen them passing around a cigarette within a group of friends, and now, now… Well, they weren't violent, but the one nearly surprising thing was that the girls were not wearing Seru. He'd never seen anyone act like this that hadn't been possessed by the Mist.

"What happened to them?" Cort asked.

"We don't know," replied the doctor. "We found them like this after the man was gone, after you… you know. I imagine it's unpleasant for you to talk about." Cort nodded. The doctor didn't seem that great with people, but he did seem like he at least tried to be nice. He went on about the girls. They didn't seem to need to eat or drink or sleep, but they were stuck like this. No matter what the doctors tried, they couldn't find out what made the girls act so strange, or change them back to normal. One of them bumped into Cort. She had blonde hair and a vacant look in her eyes, and as soon as she determined that she wasn't able to walk through Cort, she turned around and resumed her meandering.

The redheaded Seru girl stopped shuffling about, and briefly turned to Cort, before turning away almost instantaneously. The blonde seemed uninjured at least, but the redhead was covered in scratches.

"Did Dirn do that to her, too?" Cort asked. The doctor looked puzzled. "Dirn," Cort clarified, "the man who attacked the others. That was his name." It felt a little odd, people not knowing that Dirn had a name, that he'd had a past before becoming the monster of Sol, but his past hadn't been particularly redeeming, anyway—he'd tried to kill a defenseless girl and all—but he was something before he was this. In that way, it was exactly like the Mist. Nobody had been a monster to start out with.

Almost nobody.

"No," said the doctor, and the scream came again, from a door behind the girls that Cort hadn't noticed before. It was covered in locks. "One of the other girls... well, it appears that whatever this is does different things to different people. Some are harmless, and some get… violent. Like Dirn. Her friend started attacking her. We had to pull her apart."

"What happened to the other girl?" But Cort guessed he already knew the answer.

"She needed to be restrained," the doctor replied, voice shaking. "She's in that room over there, screaming her head off. Still hasn't calmed down." There had to be something he could do to help. He was probably smarter than all of these doctors, and he definitely knew more about the subject at hand. Nobody could just _stay there_, locked away, for the rest of their lives. Cort and the doctor stood there in silence. The Seru girls tested out facial expressions. "You said you might know what this is?" The doctor wouldn't believe him. People brought up the Mist as an explanation, but without Seru? No way anyone would take him seriously.

"I'm sorry," Cort lied. "But it's not what I thought, and I have no idea what it could be now." He stumbled out of the room, and out of the hospital.

* * *

"Cort!" Noa yelled. This time, he followed her voice right away. She was coming down the stairs, wearing a eyesore-bright green dress. She had puffy red circles around her eyes that he'd somehow missed at breakfast. It looked like she had tried to cover them up with makeup, fairly unsuccessfully.

"Noa?" Cort called. "Something happen?" He made his way over to her.

"I wanted to talk to you," Noa said. "I've been trying to find you for a while, hours, I think. But that's okay, you're here now."

"Is this about yesterday?" Cort asked. There was still time to run away, to ditch Noa and get the hell out of there, but he didn't think he would need to.

"I'm not going to tell Key," Noa said.

"Why not?" Cort replied, a little louder than he would have liked to. He had _really_ run out of politeness for the day, and was currently slipping back into the familiar antagonism. "You believe her, right? You don't think Zora's back."

"Yeah," said Noa. "But… I don't think you're trying to make a Zora, I just think maybe you thought she was Zora, and she's going along with it because she's…" Noa trailed off, unable to find the right word.

"Crazy?" supplied Cort. "Sick? Unstable?"

"Because she doesn't really know she's not Zora! But, she already has a family, and maybe friends, too, and she can get better and remember who she really is. You want her to remember, right?"

It was ironic that she used that word, although it really did fit. Cort could have told Noa about the memories. He could have told her about Zora's glowing earring, or about the way one day she didn't know something, and then the next, they had the memory shared together. Zora _was _on the way to remembering who she really was, and if Noa only could understand what was going on, she'd see that, too. But Noa probably wouldn't change her mind. She had an idea about how the world worked, and people like her had a hard time adjusting when things were different than they had pictured. People like her thought they were good, and therefore always thought they were doing the right thing, no matter if it really was the right thing or not. He stayed quiet. Noa continued, babbling on.

"I mean, I don't think she's Zora, but I don't think you think she's not Zora. I thought you were trying to make her into Zora at first, and I couldn't understand it, Cort! I thought you knew what was going on, and she didn't, and you were just taking advantage of her, but… I don't think you know it, either. You really miss her a lot, don't you? I guess… I knew you were lonely, but I thought you just wanted to be lonely." Noa stopped to catch her breath. "And I know that Key wouldn't care if you knew or if you didn't know, because Elisa's her daughter, you know?"

"No, she _isn't_…"

"It's kinda hard for me to think of her as Elisa, too," said Noa, although Cort didn't know if she was trying to get his sympathy, or if she was genuine. "She… _does_ look a lot like Zora, even I can see it. But, her name's Elisa, that's who she is, and Key's her mom, and if Key knew you were… doing this, she'd be furious and she'd hate you and I don't think that needs to happen if there's another way... Can you talk to her? Tell her to go back?"

"She doesn't want to go back!" replied Cort. "She's happy staying here with me! Key terrifies her!"

"But it's the right thing to do to take her back!" said Noa. "Key really loves her! Key is her mother!"

"Noa, do you really think Key is a good person?" It took a little while for Noa to formulate her reply.

"Uh, well… um, she really wants to help her daughter get better and she's really frustrated lately and she _did_ save Vahn and I…" It wasn't a "yes", and both Noa and Cort knew it, but unless Cort was willing to explain exactly _why_ Key wasn't a good person, it wasn't about to be a "no". "And her daughter really needs to get help, Cort!"

"But… I really care about her," Cort said, lamely. It wasn't enough. Noa hugged him, patted his head, and said something vaguely encouraging about finding his special someone someday, but it meant nothing, if she thought Zora was really Elisa, if she thought t. Noa wouldn't believe him anyway.

"I'll go tell her, okay?" Cort said. He waved goodbye to Noa, and headed for the hotel. He'd talk to Zora, tell her what was going on, although he wasn't about to tell her to hand herself over back to Key. They'd work out something together, and even if she'd kissed him, even if it would be a little bit more awkward now, he knew he hadn't lied to Noa just then. He really did care about Zora, a lot, and he wasn't about to let her go, not to someone planning the second Mist, of all people.

He never expected Gi Delilas to sneak up on him, and hold a knife to his throat, demanding to know what he did to Zora.


	10. Nightmare

**Destruction Again**

**10**. Nightmare

Rating: T  
Warnings: Really nothing that hasn't come up yet. Something we all knew was coming happens. I'd like a muffin but it's too late to raid the fridge at this time.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Legaia.  
A/N: Um, not much to say about this chapter. I'm worried some stuff is too abrupt, but you can't foreshadow _everything._ I might take a slight break from this story again in other to work on some other ficage, so that I'm still interested in DA when I'm writing it, but I'm not quitting. I don't want to just put out chapters and not really care and have it be obvious that I don't really care to the people who liked the idea of this in the first place. D: I need to think about where I'm going with this, too! Once I get back to this, I'll be all refreshed and super interested and such, and it'll be more awesome and more awesome is always good.

* * *

"What the hell did you do to Zora?" Gi yelled, knife pressing into Cort's neck. He couldn't breathe, couldn't swallow… it really had happened just like that, and Cort didn't want to think about it but if he even moved the wrong way… it wasn't fair, one moment, he was walking up to the hotel, going inside, and the next minute, Gi was right there, holding him in place and just _barely_ restraining himself from slitting Cort's throat.

"What do you mean?" Cort asked, teeth gritted. "I didn't do anything! _She_ kissed _me!_" Wasn't there supposed to be a clerk at the desk? Where was everyone? It wasn't supposed to be so easy to pull a knife on someone in the middle of a hotel lobby! And why was this such a big deal? It wasn't as if Gi had never kissed a girl… well, he thought. Cort didn't know or care or want to know about Gi Delilas' love life, but really, he couldn't have expected Gi to have been any more moral about it than he had, if Gi had been Cort and Zora had been… whoever Gi thought of that way. It _better_ not have been Zora.

"Don't play dumb!" Gi replied, sharply. "I know this is your fault! What did you do to her?"

Perhaps this wasn't about just the kiss. Maybe something was wrong, actually wrong, and even though he didn't appreciate being held at knifepoint, if there was something wrong and if Gi was screaming about how Cort supposedly did something to Zora (besides kissing her), he needed to know, he needed to be there…

"Did something happen to Zora?" Cort asked, worriedly.

"You… don't know?" Gi said, lowering his knife. Cort couldn't see his face, having been attacked from behind, but Cort could imagine Gi's expression implied that Cort was taking him for very, very stupid.

"What's going on?" asked Cort. "Tell me!" Gi pushed him forward, and fortunately the knife was gone, or else Cort figured he'd probably be dead by now. Gi held on to Cort's wrist, though, and started pulling him down a hall.

"Don't get me wrong," Gi said. "It's not like I trust you." He led Cort to the room—well, perhaps "led" was the wrong word, since it implied that any of this was voluntary, but it would have to do, Zora could be in danger so this really wasn't the time to bitch about Gi or Lu or Key or Noa or anyone, it was time to focus…

As they approached the room, Cort could hear Lu shrieking and panicked. "Come on, Zora, wake up!" She got louder as they got closer, and once Gi opened up the door, they could tell she was screaming at the top of her lungs. "Wake up, just wake up! Please!"

"Still nothing?" Gi asked. Lu didn't turn around. She'd lifted Zora up by her shoulders, shaking her a little, and was still yelling at her to stop being asleep and wake the hell up, despite the fact that she'd been yelling so loud that if yelling could convince Zora to wake the hell up, she'd be awake already and asking Lu to _please_ stop all that noise. Yeah, she'd probably say please, even. Zora didn't get the hang of hating these people yet.

"Did you find out what that bastard did to her?" Lu asked. "She won't wake up, I've been trying and trying and trying…"

"What happened?" Cort asked. He knew he was starting to sound like an idiot, and he really didn't appreciate being referred to as "that bastard", but this wasn't the time to get up in arms over something so trivial. She didn't seem to be moving… and how could something happen to her? It just wasn't right if something could happen to her… He ran through the possibilities in his mind. Key probably hadn't been there, Lu and Gi wouldn't make any sense… hurting Zora wouldn't do anything to alienate Cort from her, unless you thought about it _really_ twisted, if they were hurting Zora to frame Cort for it, but… Lu's panic seemed real, and it's not like they'd do that, it's not like they had enough planning skills and control to do that... or maybe Cort just didn't want to admit they cared.

"I didn't realize you were there," said Lu, angrily. She sighed. "We were just talking, and she was just sitting there, and then she fell over and we couldn't wake her up, and you did this, didn't you? It wasn't enough that she fucking _loved you_, now, was it? You had to… I don't even know what you did!"

"He says it wasn't him," Gi said.

"And you believe him?" Lu replied.

"No," said Gi. "I'm just letting you know what he said. Doesn't mean he's telling the truth."

"I didn't do anything!" said Cort, but the Delilases ignored him. He wondered if Che would be arriving on the scene, ready to strong-arm him into admitting his non-existent guilt. He hated all three of them right now, even if only two of them were present—the third one just had to be close by. But those two could yell at him all day, they could even be clever if they wanted to, provided they weren't too stupid. It didn't matter, something had happened to Zora.

He looked at her. She didn't look peaceful (they always said people looked "peaceful", when something was wrong), with that horrified look on her face, but she didn't look like anything was wrong with her, either. He checked her for a pulse, and found one. Her chest was rising and falling. Coloring was normal, fingernails and lips weren't turning blue… If something was wrong with her, she was okay for the moment.

Then he saw her eyes, moving around in her sockets like she was having some kind of vivid dream. Rapid eye movement, didn't they call it?

"Oh no," he murmured. She was dreaming, and she wouldn't wake up, and something exactly like this had happened before.

* * *

When Cort had just been a kid, he hadn't known about the Mist.

He'd thought Noa was stupid for the way she'd given him a name like that bad guy's name, especially since he kind of looked like that bad guy, too, but it was okay if Noa was stupid. Maybe he and Cort were related, or something, because Cort didn't see anyone else who had one green eye and one violet one, but he couldn't help wondering if that stupid name was the reason people were avoiding him. The other kids never wanted to play with him, and the one time one of them did, his mother had scooped him up and carried him away with a dirty look at Cort. Vahn told him that maybe he didn't want to call himself Cort, that maybe he should make up some other name to call himself, but if Cort was his name, that was what he would go by. What was the point in giving somebody a name just to make them go by something else?

This was back when he was living in Rim Elm, before the family had started moving, before Cort understood _why_ the family started moving.

He didn't understand it, but he was quickly learning that people weren't going to want him around, and that it was all he could do to learn how to be alone. It wasn't that bad. There was nobody around to bug him, to boss him around or to talk all the time. It was just him, and he could do whatever he wanted. Besides, he had friends, sort of. Whenever he dreamed, there were the same people there, and it didn't make much sense (most of the time he found himself a lot older, and in those cases, his friends weren't kids either), but he liked them and they were his friends, and they were a lot more interesting then the other kids running around, the ones that didn't like him. Maybe this was what the future would be like. He'd be happy, and surrounded by interesting people. He seemed like maybe he was some kind of royalty, and it didn't seem like that was about to happen, but who knew? The future wasn't set in stone or anything.

His friends called him Cort, and if that's what they called him, he didn't want to have any other name.

He was drawing in the dirt with a stick when it happened. Rim Elm didn't really have much to do if you didn't have any friends, and he was trying to draw his house with a stick in the dirt. He felt himself lose his balance, and he saw the stick hit the ground, but then it didn't really matter what was going on in Rim Elm because he was back again with his friends… and then he was watching them change, shift, become something inhuman, and it was all his fault, his fault, and people were dying and he couldn't recognize himself, this couldn't be him, this couldn't be him! And yet, it was him, they were calling him Cort, and he could feel and remember what all of this was like…

When he woke up, he was in his own bed, and Noa and Vahn were talking in whispers outside the door. They'd tried to wake him up, but they didn't know what was wrong, and wouldn't somebody be there soon to help? And then of course they heard him get scared and cry, only he hadn't been crying, he hadn't been that sentimental even then, and it was all hugs and nice things to say and asking if he felt alright. But it didn't matter. Things were… different, somehow. Maybe it was just a dream, but it had mattered to him, and now it was all different… maybe there was a reason nobody wanted to be around him.

* * *

"He knows what it is," said Gi.

"I'm surprised that you don't," replied Cort. "She's okay."

"She's _okay?_" screeched Lu. "Then why isn't she waking up?" He didn't want to explain this, he had an idea of just what Zora would be remembering… and he knew it would happen, but why did it have to be like this? He could have told her about it, prepared her for what was going to happen (what already had happened, really). He could have apologized, and told her he really wasn't like this at all anymore, that she really did mean a lot to him. Maybe he didn't care about her exactly the way she cared about him, but he liked her. He liked her a lot. And it wasn't fair, he was going to tell her about it on his own! She didn't need to just… find out. Not when he was about to tell her, _just_ about to tell her… eventually.

"I can't say for sure," Cort started, nervously. "But… sometimes a memory is so important, it just… can't wait. I think that's what happened." God, he hoped Lu at least wasn't about to put two and two together with this, wouldn't stop to wonder exactly _what_ was so important to Zora it couldn't wait…

Maybe it was something else, maybe there was something she'd find more important. There was the ball, wasn't there? If she really… cared about him… that much, wouldn't it be more important to remember dancing with him? It had almost been romantic, even, like something that would happen now instead of then, because he couldn't ever remember being anything other than good friends with her until just yesterday... even the tension that came before it all was new... and didn't it make more sense for her to focus on the ball, if it was a bit of contrast? It probably didn't mean anything, but she could make assumptions and guess at things and that was more important than when he had her killed, right?_ Oh please don't let it be _that_ memory, please, I'll tell her about it, really…_

Two-thirds of the Delilas siblings discussed between themselves whether they in fact _had_ been pushed asleep by especially important dream-memories, and whether it counted if they didn't just fall unconscious right away, but became incredibly drowsy or felt compelled to sleep. They seemed to be heading toward an consensus that if drowsiness counted, then such a thing did really happen to them when Zora's eyelids began to flutter.

"Zora?" Cort said. "Are you…" Her eyes snapped open, her breathing… changed. It was hard and ragged, almost like she was about to cry but didn't have it in her to do even that. "Are you okay?"

She didn't say anything. Lu climbed over the bed to get to her, sitting next to her and sitting her up.

"Don't worry, you're awake again, it'll be fine," Lu whispered, like a bad imitation of a lullaby. It was poisonous, almost. She was poisonous. Maybe Lu hated him, and he didn't really care if she hated him, but she wanted to spread it around, pass it to Zora and probably everyone else. Maybe Gi didn't even hate him that much, maybe he'd just been… influenced.

Cort wanted to hit her, to push her away. Zora shouldn't be around people like her, people who would tell her things meant to get rid of him, he liked her, really, and that look in her eyes was just dead and Lu was taking advantage of that, wasn't she? If he and Zora could just be alone, he could fix this, he could reassure her and have the situation under control… but it wasn't necessarily his betrayal that she was remembering, was it? No, not that. Please.

If only Lu would just go _die._ He could just wrap his hands around her neck, or push her down the stairs. He was caught unarmed yet again today, which really was a pity because for the moment, Lu had her back turned and everything… and he wasn't going to kill her, not really, he just wanted her to stop. He wasn't a bad person! He deserved another chance, he deserved a shot at making it up to Zora, and please, oh please, let Zora be okay…

"Hey, are you…" She _still _didn't say anything, and he couldn't quite understand that look in her eyes because he couldn't quite look at her directly. He reached out for her shoulders, tried to pull her in a way so he could look into her eyes, so he could see if this really _was_ the worst. She snapped back, shivering harder. And for a second, he did see into her eyes.

It was as bad as he had thought. He couldn't see everything she was feeling, but she was definitely, definitely afraid of him.

"Zora," he said. He needed to talk to her, to explain that as bad as he was, he wasn't the person that betrayed her before. "Please, just listen to me, I can…" Zora tucked her head into her shoulder, trying her best not to look at him, turning away. "Please just listen to me! I can explain!"

"She doesn't want to listen to you," Lu interrupted. She softened her voice as best as she could, put on that sickeningly concerned look. "Zora, I know you don't want to talk about it, but what did you just see?"

If there was any consolation to be had, it was that Zora didn't say anything to Lu, either.

"Okay," said Lu, still acting 'nice', still babying her, "Did you remember when you died? Just… nod your head or something." It took a couple of seconds, but Zora nodded, slowly. "I thought so, I thought so." Cort expected Lu to turn and give him some kind of harsh glare (and that was undoubtedly what Gi was doing, from the other side of the room) but she kept her eyes on Zora, even held one of her hands.

He wished she could just act like the bad guy again, instead of a supportive friend. He needed to blame her, and for a second he realized he needed to blame her, couldn't take responsibility about Zora. (It wasn't him! It was a long, long time ago! It was Rogue's fault! Lu was just making it worse, trying to keep them apart on purpose! Lu didn't want Cort to be happy, she didn't even want Zora to be happy! All she wanted was to drag everyone down and tie them to the past and…)

"Are you really alright with _that man_ being here with you?" Lu asked. Zora shook her head, and tears spilled out of her eyes. Her mouth formed the word "no", but she didn't say it, and if she did, it was just a whisper too quiet to hear.

"You saw that," said Gi. "Out."

"But I need to talk to her!" said Cort. "Sometimes memories aren't really, I mean, we all see things differently—"

"Get out of here!" yelled Gi. "She doesn't have to listen to you!" He'd taken out his knife again, and Cort felt a pang of fear—from now on, he was _not_ leaving the apartment unarmed even to pick up a gallon of milk—and he had to leave, _he had to leave_, but he couldn't just let the situation be, he had to fix this. He had to let her know he really did care about her.

"And maybe I've changed! She's changed, maybe you've changed, I just need to—"

"Get out or I'll kill you!" Gi yelled, and Cort couldn't help but wonder if any of the other hotel patrons would hear this and worry and maybe call for help, but he couldn't just let it be…

"Please, just let me talk to her!"

"So you can lie to her again?" asked Lu, still sitting next to Zora and providing some semblance of comfort, if Lu was the kind of person who could mean it, if she wasn't just like Key, a hollow shell who couldn't really feel or care or love at all… and Cort caught himself thinking the word "love", and as cheesy and trite as it was, it somehow seemed to fit the way he couldn't just give up his friendship with Zora and whatever else had been about to happen without a chance to explain.

"Zora!" he yelled. "Please, just let me talk to you! Say that you'll let me talk to you!" Gi was approaching him, ready to grab him and shove him out of the room, or perhaps kill him and hide the body, either way seemed about equally likely, and if she didn't say something he wouldn't be able to stay, but she loved him, right? She'd listen to him…

"No," she said, in a whisper like something broken. "Please, just go."

He left.


End file.
